Making Law School Affordable: Scholarships to Apply to in February 2024
As we end January and move forward into February, scholarship deadlines grow closer. Here at Barrier Breakers®, Inc., we are determined to helping students on their path through law school without breaking the bank. There are many resources available to BIPOC and first-generation students that can reduce obstacles that may prevent them from going to law school.
Many organizations and pipeline programs are offering financial support to future and current law school students. Applying for as many of these organizational scholarships as possible gives you, as a student, more opportunities for money in your pocket. Here we have compiled a list of scholarships, fellowships, and pipeline programs providing financial aid in February 2024 and March 2024!
The Niche No Essay Scholarship is offering $25,000 to college students without having to write an essay. Niche believe cost shouldn’t keep anyone from pursuing a higher education, so they connect students with thousands of scholarships — many of which don’t require an essay — to help them afford college. In 2023 alone, they offered over $285,000 in Niche scholarships. This scholarship is being offered to all high school and college students, as well as anyone looking to attend college or graduate school in the next year. You must have a US citizenship or a valid Visa/US passport to qualify. While the scholarship will only go to one student, it doesn’t hurt to take a chance on yourself. The deadline is February 29th, 2024, and the winner will be selected by random drawing on March 15th, 2024. Click here to learn more and apply! One entry per person.
The American Bar Association (ABA) Legal Opportunity Scholarship Fund awards funds to first-year law students. The mission of the program is to encourage racial and ethnic minority students to apply to law school and to provide financial assistance to attend and complete law school. The ABA Legal Opportunity Scholarship grants 10 - 20 incoming diverse law students with $15,000 of financial aid over their three years in law school. Since its inception, more than 400 students from across the country have received the ABA Legal Opportunity Scholarship. To apply, you must access the LOSF application portal. The application will open February 1st, 2024, and will close Apil 15th, 2024.
The Marshall-Motley Scholars Program (MMSP), named in honor of the legendary civil rights attorney and founder Thurgood Marshall, and iconic civil rights litigator Constance Baker Motley, MMSP has groundbreaking commitment to endow the South with the next generation of civil rights lawyers trained to provide legal advocacy of unparalleled excellence. The only eligibility requirement is that you must be enrolling for Fall 2024. More details are included in the Application Guide and Application Brochure. The deadline for this application is fast approaching as it closes February 2nd, 2024, so start fulfilling requirements ASAP!
Weil Legal Innovators (WLI) Program has provided an opportunity for rising law students to join a paid service fellowship. There are numerous benefits to being a part of the program such as $60,000 in compensation for the fellowship year, plus full health benefits coverage inclusive of medical, vision and dental, one-time $10,000 law school scholarship awarded upon starting first year of law school at a WLI partner institution (Penn Law, Michigan Law, Columbia Law, Harvard Law, etc.), direct access to mentorship opportunities with attorneys and professional staff at various levels, and an all-expenses paid trip to New York City for the program’s three-day conference at the beginning and end of the fellowship year. Applications for the program close March 18th, 2024. More details and how to apply can be found here.
The Hispanic Scholarship Fund (HSF) are offering law school applicants between $500-5,000 based on relative need. The HSF Scholarship is designed to assist students of Hispanic heritage obtain a university degree. It is open to graduate students in any field of study as well as undergraduate students, community college students transferring to a four-year university, and high school seniors. This scholarship does not require an essay and to have eligible you must be of Hispanic heritage, be an U.S. citizen, and have a minimum GPA of 2.5 for grad students and 3.0 for high school students. HSF accepts about 10,000 scholars who are then given access to support services such as mentorship, Scholar conferences, leadership development, career services, and wellness training. The deadline to apply is February 15th, 2024. For more details about this scholarship, click here. To apply for the program, click here.
The Foundation for Natural Resources and Energy Law is dedicated to supporting law students through a variety of impactful scholarship programs at its Constituent Law Schools. By starting the Equity and Inclusion Scholarship in 2020, students of all races, ethnics, cultures and backgrounds are considered for scholarships. In 2023 alone, the Foundation awarded over $283 thousand in scholarships, and since the inception of the scholarship programs, the Foundation has awarded more than $4.2 million in scholarships. These scholarships are awarded to JD applicants annually who meet certain general criteria and who identify as either Black, Indigenous, Latino or Latina, Asian-American, Pacific Islander, or other person of color. To be eligible for this scholarship, a student must be enrolled full time at an accredited law school but need not be attending a Constituent Law School. A student must demonstrate serious and diligent pursuit of academic achievement (although academic performance is not determinative). Other criteria include leadership ability, year in law school, and financial need. To be eligible, candidates must be a law student who is enrolled full-time at one of the Foundation’s Constituent Law Schools and who can demonstrate a commitment to the study of natural resources or energy law is eligible to apply. Students can either apply for a JD scholarship or an LLM/SJD scholarship. The deadline to apply is February 28th, 2024 for JD candidates and March 15th, 2024 for LLM/SJD candidates. Click the link here to apply!
The Andrew Cores Family Law Group is offering students $2,000 for their Future Lawyers Scholarship. Andrew Cores Family Law Group provides extensive trial experience and thoughtful legal counsel to our clients. The attorneys at our Illinois firm believe in investing resources and time into the legal community for the betterment of future generations of lawyers and the profession as a whole. Having dedicated our lives to the legal profession, the attorneys with Andrew Cores Family Law Group are excited to assist law students with expenses related to their college education. Eligibility requirements are simple: pne must be enrolled or is planning to enroll in an accredited law school within the United States, have achieved a 3.0 GPA or higher in their most recently completed academic semester, be a citizen of the U.S., and be at least 17 years of age. The application form requires students to provide their transcript, proof of enrollment, a professional headshot, contact information and to submit a 3–5-minute video answering the prompt, “What has inspired you to pursue a career in the legal field? How do you see yourself impacting the legal community in the future?” The deadline for this scholarship is March 18th, 2024. Details about the scholarship are provided here.
We hope you find this list helpful and apply to a few of these scholarships. Visit our blog for more scholarship and application advice!
Applying for law school can be challenging, but it doesn’t have to be. No matter where you are in the process, we are here to help! Through our services such as personalized one-on-one counseling, Essay Editing Support, or our free Essential Guide to Applying to Law School, there is definitely something we can do for you to help make this process a little bit easier. We also offer discounts to first-generation, BIPOC, and other marginalized students!
If you have any questions, please feel free to reach out to us at hello@barrier-breakers.org!