Giving FAQs
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How does my gift to the Richmond Law Fund benefit students?
Gifts to the Law School provide students opportunities beyond those covered by tuition, which only covers about 65% of the cost of a legal education. Your annual support enables the Law School to provide our students with an experience that is both rich in practical experience and professional development and enables the school to keep pace with a rapidly changing legal sector.
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What are the Law School’s greatest needs?
The Law School’s greatest needs are funding for:
- Scholarships to ensure that legal education is accessible and affordable for qualified students
- Summer fellowships to provide students with practical experience through their service to those who would in many cases go without needed legal services
- Programming that enhances student exposure to innovation and technology
- Programming that enhances the character formation and professional identity development of students
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How do the University’s endowment and other resources benefit law students?
Many Law Schools operate independently in relation to their larger universities, generating revenue from sources such as tuition, philanthropy, or endowed funds. At the University of Richmond, however, the Law School is recognized as a vital part of the larger University. Therefore, the Law School enjoys generous support from the University, much as the department of English or History. Additionally, the University is able to support the Law School in awarding financial aid to students thanks to the generosity of alumni and friends to establish and grow the endowment.
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I am still paying off the debt that financed my education at Richmond Law. Why should I help current students?
Tuition alone does not build a stable and lasting foundation for a law school. The generosity of alumni and friends has been vital to the education of every student and alum for the past century. In fact, every gift enables the Law School to provide a benefit to students they would otherwise not have, and each Richmond Law alum has benefited from the generosity of supporters and alumni who came before them.
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Tell me about the impact and need for scholarships?
Despite having a tuition among the lowest for private law schools in the top 100, our students still graduate law school with an average debt of $100,000. Data collected through Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA) indicates that Richmond Law students have a collective financial need of $18 million to finance their legal education. Currently, the Law School is only able to meet $2 million of that need on a permanent basis through endowments dedicated to Law School scholarships. As student loan debt has become a greater economic issue across the country, scholarships are critical to attracting a talented and diverse student body at Richmond Law.