by Harry Wilmerding
An Ivy League law school will start paying tuition for low-income students beginning next fall to diversify its culture and make law degrees more affordable, the Wall Street Journal reported.
Yale Law School will cover the tuition for students with income below the federal poverty line by offering scholarships of roughly $72,000, the Wall Street Journal reported. The scholarship will cover tuition, fees and health insurance while students are responsible for their estimated $21,000 living expenses.
The current poverty level is $27,750 for a family of four, the WSJ reported. Yale Law School said 8% to 10% of its students are eligible to receive full tuition, known as the Hurst Horizon Scholarship.
Yale Law is making a big move to make law school more accessible for those whose families are under the poverty line. @melissakorn https://t.co/4xZpcbU4AP
— Sara Randazzo (@sara_randazzo) February 21, 2022
The growing number of large scholarships reflects the school’s success in attracting a more diverse group of students, Yale Law Dean Heather Gerken told the WSJ. “We need to meet students where they are,” Gerken added.
Now nearly one in four Yale Law students are the first member of their family to attend graduate school, and nearly half the class is made up of students of color, the WSJ reported. Between 2006 and 2016, roughly 36% of the class were students of color.
Many wealthy U.S. colleges have stepped up their efforts to pay low-income families tuition as students throughout the country continue to rack up tens to hundreds of thousands of dollars in college debt, according to the WSJ. In 2021, 73% of Yale Law Students received scholarships averaging $29,361, the WSJ reported.
While undergraduate students have a limit on how much they can borrow, graduate students can pay their entire tuition with loans, the WSJ reported. Yale Law students in the class of 2020 borrowed on average roughly $135,000.
Yale Law School did not immediately respond to the Daily Caller News Foundation’s request for comment.
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Harry Wilmerding is a reporter at Daily Caller News Foundation.
Photo “In Class” by Yale Law School.
