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Financial Aid Resources

Congratulations on your admission to Cornell Law School! As a member of the Class of 2029, you are entering law school during a period of significant shifts in the student loan landscape. Recent legislative changes effective July 1, 2026, have altered the traditional federal loan structure, making strategic financial planning more essential than ever.

This document serves as a guide to the available financial aid resources and strategic tools to help you fund your JD degree.

  1. AccessLex Institute Resources
    AccessLex is a nonprofit dedicated to supporting law students. Their tools are considered the “gold standard” for financial literacy in the legal community.

MAX Pre-Law Scholarship for incoming Fall 2026 students. Four students will receive $15,000 each.

MAX by AccessLex
MAX is a free personal finance program designed specifically for law students.

  • Curriculum: Offers online lessons, webinars, and in-person workshops tailored to each year of law school (1L, 2L, 3L).
  • Financial Coaching: Provides one-on-one access to Accredited Financial Counselors to help you build a personal budget or repayment strategy.
  • Scholarship Incentives: By completing lessons, you earn entries into drawings for scholarships ranging from $5,000 to $25,000.

AccessLex Scholarship Databank
This is a curated database of over 800 vetted scholarship opportunities totaling more than $3 million in aid.

  • Specific Filters: You can filter by background, area of interest, and state of residence.
  • Vetted Leads: Unlike broad search engines, these are specific to law students and pre-law candidates, reducing the “noise” of irrelevant results.

   2. Federal Student Loans (Class of 2029 Standards)
Incoming 1Ls in 2026 (and returning students that have not previously borrowed federal loans) are subject to the newest federal borrowing limits and repayment plans.

 Loan Type Annual Limit Lifetime Limit Note
Professional Direct Loan $50,000 $200,000* New category for professional degrees.
Aggregate Total — $257,500 Includes undergraduate debt.

* For a four-year program. For a standard three-year JD, the Professional Direct Loan lifetime limit is $150,000.

  • The FAFSA is required for each academic year you wish to utilize federal student loans. As graduate and professional students are considered federally independent, parent information is not required.
  • The first time you borrow federal loans you will complete the Master Promissory Note and Entrance Counseling. These items expire after 10 years; they are usually required only once during your time in law school.

**As of July 1, 2026, the Graduate PLUS Loan program has been eliminated for new borrowers. Since federal caps may no longer cover the full Cost of Attendance (COA) at many law schools, you may need to fill the gap with private options or scholarships.**

  3. Private Lending & Collective Bargaining
With the sunset of Grad PLUS loans, private lending has become a more prominent fixture in law school 1L packages.

Preferred Lender List
The Cornell Law School financial aid office maintains a Preferred Lender List.

  • Vetting: We selected these lenders based on “borrower-best” criteria, such as low interest rates, no origination fees, and ease of service.
  • Transparency: By law, we must list at least three unaffiliated lenders and cannot receive any financial benefit from recommending them.
  • Ease of Use: These lenders usually have streamlined systems that link directly with our financial aid portal for faster certification.

Neutral & Historical Lending List
Our institution maintains a Neutral Lending List to provide you with a broad starting point for your private loan research without endorsing any specific commercial entity. This list is a non-ranked compilation of private lenders that have provided loans to our law students over the past three to five years.

  • No Endorsement: The inclusion of a lender on this list does not constitute a recommendation or a guarantee of the best rates.
  • Objective Transparency: This list is designed to show you which banks are active in the law school space and have existing data-sharing links with our financial aid office, which can speed up the certification process.

Juno
Juno is not a lender; it is a collective bargaining group.

  • The Model: Juno gathers thousands of students to create a “buying group.” They then take this group to various banks and lenders (like SoFi, Earnest, or Laurel Road) and ask them to bid for the group’s business.
  • The Benefit: This competition often results in interest rates that are lower than what an individual could negotiate on their own.
  • Flexibility: It is free to join, and there is no obligation to take the deal they negotiate.

Credible
Credible is an online loan marketplace that allows you to compare personalized loan offers from multiple lenders side-by-side using a single form.

  • Single Application: Instead of applying to five different banks, you fill out one short form. Credible then pulls “pre-qualified” rates from its partner lenders (such as Sallie Mae, College Ave, and SoFi).
  • Transparency: You can compare fixed vs. variable rates, total loan costs, and repayment terms (5 to 20 years) in one dashboard.

  4. Other Essential Resources

  • Law School Transparency (LST): A great tool for comparing the “real cost” of degrees, including debt-to-income ratios for specific schools.
  • Public Service Loan Forgiveness (PSLF): If you plan to work in government or for a 501(c)(3) nonprofit, ensure your federal loans (not private ones) are managed under a qualifying income-based repayment plan.

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