Additional Details for Joint Degrees

If you are pursuing your JD degree and another graduate degree within the University, the law school Financial Aid Office almost invariably is responsible for awarding your financial aid.  Typically you take your first full year of law courses first, then begin to blend other division courses into your subsequent semester registrations, aided by the Dean of Students.

If you are a U.S. citizen/permanent resident, not a transfer student, not receiving a law school merit scholarship of $16,000 or more, and not receiving GW employee tuition benefits, you may apply for Law need-based grants and federal loans. You may only receive your Law merit scholarship or need-based grant in semesters in which you are paying Law School tuition.

For any semester in which you are registered for courses exclusively in another division, you will be charged the per credit hour tuition rate and all other corresponding special fees* for that division, plus the law school's standard cost of attendance living expenses. GW graduate school (non-law, non-med) tuition rates tend to be lower than the law school's.  However, for any semester in which you blend law and other division courses—even if only one law credit is in the mix—the law school's tuition is applied. If you take 12 or more credits, you will be charged the law school flat full-time tuition rate; if you take less than 12 credits, you will be charged the law school’s per credit hour tuition rate.

*Some graduate degrees have special fees charged you prior to graduation. These should be specified when you receive your admission to the other school. For example, currently, the Elliott School of International Affairs charges a $3,600 "grad" fee, in $900 per semester installments. Because the GW system can only post one GW division's charges in any given semester, you may not always see those charges assessed on your student account. Even if you do not see the charges on your bill, they must be paid prior to graduation. If you know you should be billed for a special graduate division fee and don't see it on your account statement, alert Law Financial Aid immediately. If left unpaid, the graduate school will demand payment of the special fee in full prior to your graduation.

Any extra charges you incur at the other graduate school, which are not built into the Law COA, may be added to your law school costs so that you may borrow more to cover them.