Renewing Your Financial Aid

Priority Deadline: May 1, 2025

Applications received after May 1 will be reviewed with no impact to the amount of financial aid awarded; however, late applications may not be fully processed before the August payment deadline for the fall semester.

Renewing your Scholarship:

Scholarships that are awarded during the admissions process are renewed each year, at the same amount, while a student completes their six-semester JD degree at the School of Law. Scholarships are renewed as long as you are enrolled on a full-time basis and meet the basic academic requirements for the School of Law.

Tax Treatment of Scholarships — In most cases, scholarships are not considered taxable income if they do not exceed tuition & fees. Your scholarship should only be reported on your FAFSA if you included it as taxable income on your federal income tax return.

For more information see IRS Publication 970, Section 1, Tax Benefits for Education.

Federal Direct Loans:

The process to receive federal loans has changed with our new system. If you are applying for federal financial aid, please submit the following materials:

If you intend to borrow federal loans and this is the first year you are borrowing them for your BU Law program, you will need to complete the Entrance Counseling and Master Promissory Note on the Federal Student Aid website. Links to the specific forms are on our website – Federal Loans | School of Law. If you borrowed a federal loan in a prior year of your program, you do not need to complete these forms again.

Unsubsidized Loan

If you submit the FAFSA, the LAW Financial Aid Office will set up the Federal Direct Unsubsidized Loan for the amount that you are eligible to receive. You will receive a confirmation email that this has been done. You will need to accept the loan in the MyBU portal in order for the loan to disburse. You can also decline the loan or adjust the amount through the portal.

Graduate PLUS Loan

If you would like to borrow the Graduate PLUS Loan, you will need to submit the online application once it becomes active for the upcoming academic year. An email will be sent once it is active.

IRS Data Retrieval

Students who filed their IRS tax return may select the IRS Data Retrieval option on the FAFSA to transfer their tax information to the FAFSA. We strongly recommend that you select this option. This will streamline and expedite the processing of your financial aid application. In most cases students who select this option will not be required to submit their tax returns to the Financial Aid Office.

Important Note — Please be aware that we cannot renew your financial aid or process your loan application(s) if you have a balance greater than $200 on your student account from the prior academic year.

Federal Work Study – Academic Year:

Students who are eligible for federal student aid may be considered for Federal Work Study in addition to federal loans. For additional information, please review our Federal Work Study page. Students who are interested in receiving Federal Work Study for the academic year must submit the following forms: