• Direct Loan Interest Rate

  The interest rate for your first $20,500 of Direct Student Loans, originated by the U.S. Department of Education. The rate is calculated each year using the treasury rate plus 3.6%. This rate is fixed for the life of your loan.

• Direct PLUS Loan Interest Rate

  The interest rate for your student loans originated by the U.S. Department of Education in excess of $20,500 each year. The rate is calculated each year using the treasury rate plus 4.6%. This rate is fixed for the life of your loan.

• Key Statistical Terms

  A quartile is the result of spliting a populaion into four equal groups. The 50th percentile, or median, is the middle point between the smallest and highest value in a population. The 25th percentile is the middle point between the smallest value and the median value. The 75th percentile uses the same calculation, but with the highest value. The interquartile range is the range between the 25th and 75th percentile (inclusive). A median is a type of average; another common average is the mean.

• Loan Origination Fee

  An origination fee is a percentage of your loan amount charged by the lender for the processing of your loan.

• Non-Discounted Cost

  This is how much you would owe if you borrowed the full cost of attendance, accounting for interest that accumulates during school.

• Percent Paying Full Price

  The percentage of all enrolled students (not just 1Ls) in a given academic year that receive no tuition discount, whether need-based or not, or with strings or without.

• Percent Receiving Discount

  The percentage of all enrolled students (not just 1Ls) in a given academic year that receives some tuition discount, whether need-based or not, or with strings or without.

• Projected Debt at Repayment

  The projected debt owed by a graduate who borrows to attend the law school. The figure is as of six months following graduation when the first loan payment is due; assumes no interest pre-payments; and accounts for tuition increases based on previous years of change. Interest accumulation calculations are time-sensitive—based on semester disbursement periods—and use a blended rate based on projected interest rates.

  Various parts of this site allow you to factor in assumptions that adjust the maximum amount you may borrow, which is determined by the law school's self-reported cost of attendance. Factors include residency (for state schools), LDS faith (for BYU), tuition discounts, and monetary contributions. Each factor offsets the need to fully debt-finance the cost of attending a law school.

• Published Cost of Attendance

  This is how much the school says it costs to attend, including tuition and cost of living. This figure usually reflects 9 or 10 months of living expenses. Generally, the school's published cost of attendance dictates how much you're allowed to borrow in student loans.

• Star a School to Add to Your List

  To add a law school to your list, you may star it from this page. Add a school to your list when you're interested in attending or tracking their performance. You can do many things with this list and add schools to it from all over this site.

• Treasury Rate

  Student loan interest rates change annually based on the U.S. Government 10-year Treasury yield. As such, to project your actual cost of attendance and monthly payment, you must forecast the 10-year Treasury yields for each of your three years in law school. The default Treasury rate we use across this website is the most recent yield used for student loans, which is set annually based on the high yield of the final 10-year Treasury Note auction in May.

• Tuition

  The amount (including fees) you pay a school for their educational services for a defined term, i.e. each quarter, semester, or year. Unless otherwise indicated, tuition prices we list are the sticker price. The sticker price is tuition witout any discount (or scholarship) applied. For public schools, in-state residents usually receive a lower price than non-residents.

• Tuition Discount

  Sometimes referred to as scholarships. The discount is the amount of need-based or non-need-based discount a student receives to attend the law school. These often come with strings attached. When an amount is listed, that amount is the total discount in one year.

For more definitions, view the full glossary.