Yale Law School library

Yale Law Expands Its Full-Tuition Scholarship Program

Yale Law School is expanding full-tuition scholarships to more students this year.

The law school announced last week that it will expand upon its Hurst Horizon Scholarship Program to ensure that more students with significant financial need will be able to attend the law school tuition free. Yale Law’s need-based aid program covers the cost of tuition, fees, and health insurance for students who qualify—a scholarship of more than $70,000 per year. Starting this fall, students from families with incomes up to 200% of the federal poverty line will receive the scholarship. Yale Law says it expects the program to cover between 80 to 90 J.D. students next year in the classes of 2024, 2025, and 2026, up from 51 students during the 2022–2023 academic year.

“The Hurst Horizon Scholarship Program opens a world of possibility for our students, freeing them of financial concern so they can tackle the problems of tomorrow,” Yale Law School Dean Heather K. Gerken says. “I’ve been deeply moved to see how this scholarship changes lives, and I am thrilled that we can now support many more students in need.”

PROGRAM IS ONLY ONE YEAR OLD

Yale’s Hurst Horizon Scholarship Program was announced just one year ago—as part of the law school’s mission to erase tuition for J.D. students with the greatest financial need.

“We are committed to opening our doors to the students who have the most to gain from this School and the most to give to the world, regardless of their means,” Gerken said last year. “I am thrilled that we are able to make this extraordinary addition to a financial aid system that is already best-in-class. The Hurst Horizon Scholarship Program will free students with the greatest need from financial worry during law school and open up a world of possibilities so that they can be a powerful force for change in society.”

Yale Law School is one of only two law schools in the country to provide aid based exclusively on financial need. 73% of students received scholarship grants in the 2020–2021 academic year—and Yale Law students graduate with the lowest debt load among all of its peer schools.

“This is an important moment in legal education, one that calls us to do everything we can to support students with significant financial need,” Gerken says. “During my deanship, it will remain a priority to grow this program and encourage other educational leaders to do the same. Since we first launched this scholarship program, Stanford Law School, Harvard Business School, and Washington University School of Law School have joined us. It is my hope that schools around the country will take up the call and make these life-changing scholarships available to students without means. This is our opportunity to open the doors of our profession to all.”

Sources: Yale Law, Yale Law