LAW LEADERSHIP GIVING: Scholarships
Dillard Scholarship $750,000
Established in 1984, the Dillard Scholarships are the Law School's premier scholarship awards. Each Dillard Scholarship carries the name of the donor, in association with that of Hardy Cross Dillard ’27, the fifth dean of the Law School.
Dillard Scholarships enable Virginia to attract exceptional students who could attend any law school in the country. Those selected are offered full scholarships. Dillard Scholarships are used to identify students whose remarkable abilities, demonstrated commitments, and varied backgrounds suggest the potential for extraordinary leadership, in the Law School community and beyond.
Dean's Scholarships $300,000-$500,000
Dean's Scholarships, which carry the names of their donors, enable the Law School to attract exceptional applicants who have been offered major scholarship support elsewhere. Unusually accomplished applicants who wish to attend the Law School are sometimes lured away by generous offers of financial support from other institutions. Dean's Scholarships make it possible to recruit such students to Virginia. They are awarded to persons of particular merit, promise, or need, and are intended to provide substantial tuition assistance. An endowment of $500,000 covers more than half of tuition and substantially reduces a student's need for student loans. An endowment of $300,000 provides materially less support, but nonetheless significantly reduces dependence on student loans.
$2 Million EndowmentLaw Alumnae Scholarship
Women are creating a voice for themselves at their alma maters in the most effective way there is—writing a check and making multi-year pledges in their own names. A collective fund-raising effort by women graduates during this campaign will ensure we continue to have a strong and identifiable presence at the Law School. The Law Alumnae Scholarship Committee seeks to raise an endowment to create the Law Alumnae Scholarship Fund. The Fund will provide a full-tuition scholarship to a student for their three years at the Law School. Our goal is to have a Law Alumnae Scholar in each class (so that we are supporting three students each year). A rotating committee of three or four donors to the Scholarship will help choose the Law Alumnae Scholar. The Scholarship will be awarded to a candidate who will increase diversity (broadly defined) at the Law School. The candidate will have demonstrated leadership in life thus far, with the potential to further develop as a leader at the Law School and beyond. The Scholarship will be awarded based on financial need, with academic merit considered when choosing between competing candidates.
Need-Based Scholarships
| Non-Resident | $200,000 |
| Resident | $100,000 |
Virginia has an obligation to assure that all qualified applicants can attend the Law School regardless of financial circumstance. As non-resident tuition rises to the level of our major private competitors, the need for financial aid increases accordingly. Ordinarily, students with financial need depend heavily on loans. Often, however, they already have substantial indebtedness from their undergraduate education. The addition of more debt to finance law school can result in a crushing burden and limit career choices.
Endowed scholarships enable deserving students to attend the Law School without incurring excessive debt. At the standard spending discipline of 4.25 percent, an endowment of $200,000 will generate $8,500 annually. This sum helps keep a student's total indebtedness within acceptable bounds. For Virginia residents, the Law School is committed to maintaining tuition at a $5,000 discount from non-resident tuition. Scholarship need is reduced accordingly. Hence an endowment of $100,000, which will yield $4,250 annually, suffices as partial support for Virginia residents.