Tuition/Financial Aid/Scholarship

Admitted students who are U.S. citizens or permanent residents are eligible to apply for private educational loans. Some private educational lenders offer loans to international students who have a creditworthy cosigner who is a U.S. citizen.

International students are encouraged to explore financial aid options from sources in their home countries. More detailed information is available online at www.swlaw.edu/studentservices/finaid.

International students who are accepted to Southwestern are required to have sufficient funds to cover travel to and from the United States and tuition, fees, and living expenses while attending Southwestern. Documentation of financial support will be required during the student visa process. More information on the student visa process may be found here.

Scholarship awards for all entering international and domestic LL.M. students are determined based on the admissions application, including an applicant’s interests and goals as stated in their personal statement, their professional experience and law school grades, letters of recommendation, and other factors. All admitted students will automatically be considered for the scholarship.

Southwestern awards up to five Entertainment LL.M. Program Scholarships each semester, providing partial tuition to entering Entertainment LL.M. students. Entertainment LL.M. students selected to receive the scholarship award are notified prior to their start of the program. Scholarships are not payable directly to the recipients but are set off against tuition costs.

Partial scholarships are described as those that are not intended to pay full tuition. Partial scholarships will be awarded as 10%, 20%, or 30% of the tuition for the first 24 units attempted. Units taken on campus during the summer and January Intersessions will be covered. Units taken in an abroad program will not be covered by this scholarship.

Leave of Absence: If a student goes on an approved leave of absence, the scholarship will be reinstated providing the student returns to the Entertainment and Media Law LL.M. Program at the approved date or earlier, and is still eligible for the scholarship. If the student fails to return at the approved time, the scholarship is canceled in perpetuity.

Leaving School: When a student voluntarily or involuntarily withdraws, any unused amount of the student's scholarship is reduced in prorated proportion to the expiration of the term. For example, if a student leaves the law school with only 25% of the term having expired, only 25% of the scholarship will be applied toward that student's tuition and the remaining 75% will be returned to the scholarship fund. Once 60% of the term has expired, the full scholarship will be applied toward the tuition without any proration.

Revocation: The scholarship may be revoked at any time because of any breach of the Student Honor Code, pursuant to a determination made in accordance with the procedures for Honor Code violations.

Withdrawn Scholarships: If the scholarship is withdrawn, the student may still continue with the currently enrolled course(s), but must pay the full tuition due. If, however, the student does not wish to continue with the currently enrolled course(s) after the scholarship is withdrawn, the student must drop the course(s) and pay any amounts due as explained under "Leaving School" above.

Incomplete: If a student takes an Incomplete in any one course, the scholarship will be withdrawn until the student finishes the course and the Incomplete is replaced with a grade. The scholarship, however, will not be paid retroactively for a prior semester.

Admission Deferral: If a scholarship recipient requests and is granted a deferral of admission, the scholarship is not deferred unless approved by the Director of the Entertainment LL.M. Program, in writing, at the time of deferral of admission.

Appeal: Should any of these rules be found to be ambiguous, contradictory, or in error, the other rules shall remain in full force and effect. The Director of Financial Aid along with the Director of the Entertainment LL.M. Program will interpret these rules. If the scholarship recipient wishes to appeal the decision of the Director of Financial Aid or Director of the Entertainment LL.M. Program, the student may appeal to Southwestern's Vice-Dean.

Other: Southwestern reserves the right to replace any or all of the scholarship funds with any other scholarship funds it chooses so long as the total eligible amount is not decreased. The terms and conditions of any replacement scholarship will not be more restrictive than the original scholarship.

Changes: Southwestern reserves the right to amend, clarify or update these rules from time to time.