The strategies you employ to prepare for the bar may include time spent away from work to study, delaying employment, or utilizing the services of a company that offers a comprehensive bar review course - all of which will require you to have financing plans in place to cover the extra costs. Advance planning, beginning with your first year of law school, will provide you with a greater number of options and ones that are more financially beneficial to you. A couple of things to keep in mind:
- Unless you are enrolled at least half time, you will not have eligibility for the Federal Direct Unsubsidized or Grad PLUS Student Loan while you are studying for the bar.
- Generally, Federal Direct Loans will be a less expensive option and have deferment, cancellation and repayment provisions that a private bar study loan private lender will not be able to provide.
- The cost of a bar study review course cannot be used to increase your Cost of Attendance or increase your overall financial aid eligibility.
First Step
The first step is to determine what your costs are likely to be, what resources you will have, and how much additional funding you are likely to need. Include in your estimate your living expenses for the period of time you will be devoting to studying for the bar, the cost of a bar review course, and the cost of the bar exam itself. Then, as best as you are able, utilize the following financing strategies listed below, beginning with your first year of law school.
Financing Strategies
- Keep your expenses while in law school as low as possible with the goal to borrow less than your full eligibility for student loans.
- From the loans you do borrow, set aside a fixed amount each term, perhaps when you receive your refund, to accumulate funds that you can then use during the time you are studying for the bar.
- If you haven’t borrowed the maximum loan for which you are eligible in a given academic year (and can’t set aside additional funds from the loan(s) you do borrow), then consider borrowing some or all of your remaining unused eligibility and set aside those extra funds as your bar study reserve.
- Federal regulations allow for the cost of taking the actual bar exam to be utilized in the determination of your eligibility for Federal Direct Loans. You must first pay for the exam and then seek to have your Cost of Attendance adjusted by contacting the Office of Student Financial Services liaison to the law school.
- As a last resort consider a bar study loan. Follow the link for additional information on bar study loans, and the lenders which offer them.
