When many people attend college and graduate school, they might think that they will stay at the university they select until they obtain their degree. And it is true that transferring schools is difficult for a number of academic programs. However, as this website has discussed in a few prior articles, it is possible to change schools as an undergraduate and while pursuing a graduate degree. Furthermore, transferring schools to receive more financial aid is achievable in a variety of circumstances.
As mentioned in prior articles, I did not transfer schools as an undergraduate. I was able to convince my college to award me more financial aid after my first year of school, so there was no reason for me to leave. However, my law school experience demonstrates that transferring schools to receive more financial aid is possible.
While applying to law schools, I was motivated to simply attend the best law school that admitted me. I had the flawed belief that I had to attend the best law school I could in order to have the most options open to me when I graduated. I was admitted by Washington and Lee School of Law off the waitlist, and I was excited to get admitted to a school that was in the top group of law schools in the country.
I asked the admissions office at Washington and Lee Law if they could award me any scholarship money, and I was informed that I was not eligible for any financial assistance. In addition, I discovered to my dismay that Washington and Lee Law did not have a need-based financial aid program. As a result, I had to pay full sticker price to attend Washington and Lee Law, which amounted to around $54,000 a year when you included living expenses.
After I was admitted to Washington and Lee Law, I tried to search for funding I could use to cover my educational expenses. I had difficulty finding outside scholarships, since many institutions do not award funding to individuals studying law. In addition, I thought about joining Army ROTC in order to pay for my educational costs. However, I had trouble locating financial assistance for law school, and I resigned myself to paying full sticker price in order to earn my law degree.
After receiving my first semester of grades as a law student, I realized that I could probably transfer to a better law school. I then researched if it is possible to secure financial aid in law school as a transfer student. To my surprise, I discovered that financial aid was available to transfer students at a few highly-selective law schools.
However, in order to secure financial aid as a law school transfer student, you need to apply for financial aid even before you are admitted to a new school. This is because applicants do not usually hear back about transfer decisions until after the academic year, long after financial aid deadlines have passed. In addition, although some schools use common financial aid applications, each school usually has its own financial aid forms that need to be completed in order to be eligible for financial aid.
I had my sights set on transferring to either Cornell Law School or Georgetown University Law Center, and even before submitting my application for admission, I submitted my financial aid paperwork. This seemed a little weird, but as I recall, the financial aid deadline was February 15th of the year I applied for admission whereas the transfer application deadline was later than this. As you can imagine, transferring schools to receive more financial aid requires a great deal of faith, since applicants spend a lot of time to complete financial aid paperwork and the payoff is uncertain.
I ended up being denied for admission to Cornell Law School, so all of the work I did to be eligible for financial aid at this school was unfruitful. However, I was fortunately accepted to Georgetown Law, which was really exciting. I was even more happy to hear that Georgetown Law awarded me need-based grants and work-study money that amounted to about $30,000 a year.
Students need to consider cost-of-living issues when transferring schools to receive more financial aid. Living in Washington, DC to attend Georgetown law cost a lot more money than living in rural Virginia to attend Washington and Lee University School of Law. Indeed, even though I earned $30,000 of financial aid from Georgetown Law, I still had to pay $36,000 a year at that school. This was substantially lower than the $54,000 I paid to attend Washington and Lee Law, but since the cost of living in DC is higher than rural Virginia, I did not realize the full financial benefit of receiving additional financial aid.
In addition, there are other situations in which transferring schools to receive more financial aid is not worth it. For instance, if you can live at home to attend a school that does not award you financial aid, it still might be worth it to reduce costs by living at home and attending that school. In addition, family obligations and other life circumstances could also prevent you from transferring schools to receive more financial aid.
In the end, transferring schools to receive more financial aid is doable in most circumstances, so long as you have the background necessary to be accepted to the school to which you wish to transfer. However, cost-of-living considerations and other factors should be assessed when evaluating whether transferring schools to receive more financial aid is right for you.