“Financial aid was one of the most important factors in my decision to come to Yale Law School. Without the support of Donald Horowitz, LL.B. ’59, who sponsored my scholarship, and the extraordinarily generous COAP program, I never could have afforded to attend the law school."

-Stacie Jonas (’07)
Types of Aid for Students & Alumni/COAP
The Law School expects all students to finance a portion of their education with loans. We strive to minimize and equalize our students’ debt load. In general, we allocate our grant resources to students with the greatest financial need, and use a formula that increases the proportion of grant as total need increases.

There are several types of loans available through various lenders. The most common types of loans for Yale Law students are Stafford Loans, Perkins Loans, Grad Plus loans.

Grants are also available from Yale and from outside sources. Yale awards grants on the basis of financial need. Scholarships and grants awarded from outside sources are used to reduce the loan portion of a Yale Law School award. See a list of outside scholarships.

The Law School has also pioneered a loan repayment assistance program that allows students to take jobs in nonprofit organizations, public interest, government, academia, or small firms. COAP (Career Options Assistance Program) is one of the most generous and flexible loan forgiveness programs in existence. Learn more…