Admissions and Financial Aid Blog

Vermont Law School has concluded yet another year.  Commencement ceremonies were held on Saturday and we celebrated the success of 196 graduates of the JD, MSEL and LLM programs.  This class will be missed . . .

This week have been extemely quiet.  Faculty are no where to be seen - they are off grading exams in peace and quiet.  Many members of the staff have taken vacation time.  It has been a great opportunity to catch up on those annoying odds and ends of projects in the office.

Nancy and I head out to Tucson on Tuesday morning for the annual meeting of Law Schools Admissions Officers - boy, do we have a lot to talk about this year!  Even though we see each other on the recruiting trips in the fall and converse via email all year - it is great fun to get together this time of year.  We compare notes on how our classes are coming in and who is going to the wait list over the summer. 

Speaking of the wait list . . . we still have not made any admission decisions from the wait list.  We have strong group of first deposits and hesitate to make any more decisions until second deposits arrive in June.  We understand how frustrating a time period this is for the wait listed applicants and appreciate your patience!  My GOAL is to have all final decisions made prior to the first of July.  In the meantime, please feel free to call or email the office if you feel a need to check in.

May is here and we are getting a lot of phone calls about what is the next step? All accepted students with complete files (FAFSA, VLS Institutional Application and signed 2006 federal taxes) have been awarded. It is not too late to get these documents in to make your file complete.

So onto the next steps, around June 15^th, we will be mailing our packets to all deposited students with financial aid awards. This packet will include forms that need to be filled out before aid can be disbursed. Included in these forms are loan paperwork, disbursement forms and a form stating your rights and responsibilities.

You are allowed to choose any lender you want for your federal educational loans. About 97% of VLS students use Vermont Student Assistance Corporation (VSAC). Here is why so many of our students use VSAC:

• Incredible Vermont Value Benefits

1.3% annual rebate on all Stafford Loans during repayment

4.3% rebate during Year 1 of Grad PLUS

1.3% rebate after year 2 and beyond of Grad PLUS

• Amazing Customer Service for students
• 1:1 in-person Exit Counseling before you go into repayment

So to recap, after June 15th, we will mail out packets of financial aid materials with loan information. Now is the time to clean up any credit issues you may have.