The Law School Admission Test may affect more than just a candidate's chances of admission to law school. According to a Nov. 8 study conducted by Kaplan Test Prep and Admissions, 78 percent of approximately 200 pre-law advisers surveyed said LSAT scores influence the financial aid packages students receive.
The study found that having a high LSAT score benefits students by providing them with the leverage to negotiate better financial aid packages.
Justin Serrano, general manager of graduate programs for Kaplan, said it was surprising to find so many pre-law advisers who identified a correlation between LSAT scores and financial aid. He added that schools do not publish much suggesting this relationship exists -- usually because decisions on financial aid are not formulaic, but are mostly reached on a case-by-case basis.
Many seniors applying to law school were taken aback by the study's findings. Lidia Barabash '05 said using LSAT scores as a factor in determining financial aid is a double-edged sword: good for those who do well, and not for those who do not.
"If I had known this, it would have been another motivating factor to study more," Barabash said.
Maddy Lefton '05, who is also in the midst of law school applications, said most schools' admissions websites are elusive about supplying such information.
"I would think that withholding information like this helps law schools have higher application rates, making them look better, but it disregards and ultimately takes advantage of financially-strapped applicants," Lefton said.
The pursuit of higher rankings in publications such as U.S. News and World Report provide an incentive for law schools to look at LSAT scores when determining financial aid packages, said Steve Brown, director of financial aid at Fordham Law School. At Fordham, financial aid is primarily need-based, Brown said, although the school is beginning to award merit aid this year, which would require looking at factors such as LSATs and grade point averages.
"We are losing students to other schools that do merit aid, such as Cornell, Penn and BC, and we have to compete," Brown said.
The reason law schools do not make the correlation between LSAT scores and financial aid awards known, Brown said, is because it could induce applicants to expect certain awards if they receive a good LSAT score.
Students were not surprised that rankings could be a motivation in giving higher financial aid awards to candidates with higher LSAT scores. Christian Littlejohn '05, for one, guessed that "boosting their numbers" could be a reason for the correlation.
"Although it would be disappointing, I would not be at all surprised if it were true," he said.
Merit aid had not been awarded before the caliber of Fordham's law applicants became highly compressed, Brown said. The middle 50 percent of students at the school has an LSAT score range of 163-167, he added, and it would be difficult to determine which students should receive merit aid.
Yet, other seniors did not mind the use of LSAT scores in determining financial aid packages.
"If a school wants to give more financial aid to someone with higher LSAT scores under the assumption that the person will perform better at the school and bring more to that school because of it, I think that's fine," Laura Hulce '05 said.
There are some redeeming qualities about the study though, according to Brown.
"What students could take away from the study is that it may open a new group of schools for students to look at if they receive a high LSAT score," he said. "There may be more financial aid money than they thought at certain schools."
Still, many students remained miffed at the study's findings.
"I think it is absolutely ridiculous," said Mary Reynolds '05. "While LSAT scores are a reasonable element of the application process, all admitted students should be given completely equal consideration for financial aid based on need and not scores."
