Law School Conditional Scholarship Retention Rates

Of 7,408 students who entered these 61 schools with a conditional scholarship in 2024-25, 2,043 had it reduced or eliminated after the first year — an overall retention rate of 72.4%.

A conditional scholarship is one whose renewal depends on GPA or class standing beyond what the school normally requires for good academic standing. Scholarships that only require ordinary good standing are not conditional and are not reported here. ABA Standard 509 requires each school to disclose how many students entered with a conditional scholarship and how many lost it, and to hand that record to applicants at the time of the offer. Retention figures describe earlier cohorts; they are not a prediction of any individual outcome.

#	School	State	Entered 2024-25	Kept it	2023-24	2022-23
1	Texas Southern University	TX	83	32.5%	—	—
2	Western State College of Law (Westcliff University)	CA	115	33.9%	22.7%	28.1%
3	California Western School of Law	CA	199	36.7%	31.9%	36.1%
4	Touro University	NY	185	39.5%	40.5%	46.7%
5	Barry University	FL	253	41.5%	41.0%	43.9%
6	New York Law School	NY	126	46.0%	51.5%	58.5%
7	St. Thomas University (Florida)	FL	102	46.1%	43.4%	50.0%
8	Hofstra University	NY	231	46.8%	47.8%	50.2%
9	Southwestern Law School	CA	295	51.9%	51.4%	48.5%
10	University of Illinois-Chicago	IL	162	53.1%	51.1%	49.0%
11	Chapman University	CA	84	57.1%	64.0%	54.5%
12	Pace University	NY	285	58.2%	68.0%	59.9%
13	Southern University	LA	21	61.9%	46.0%	41.7%
14	University of San Francisco	CA	96	62.5%	61.6%	59.4%
15	University of Arkansas at Little Rock	AR	86	65.1%	42.5%	54.1%
16	Mississippi Christian University School of Law (MC Law)	MS	80	66.2%	69.0%	65.7%
17	South Texas College of Law Houston	TX	280	66.4%	61.1%	48.8%
18	University of the Pacific (McGeorge)	CA	128	66.4%	68.7%	69.5%
19	Atlanta's John Marshall Law School	GA	125	66.4%	62.1%	61.1%
20	Oklahoma City University	OK	3	66.7%	100.0%	100.0%
21	Santa Clara University	CA	110	70.9%	54.1%	66.2%
22	Catholic University of America, The	DC	45	73.3%	75.0%	64.3%
23	New England Law/Boston	MA	290	74.1%	73.1%	81.6%
24	Seattle University	WA	140	74.3%	83.3%	78.6%
25	The University of Memphis	TN	36	75.0%	61.8%	68.2%
26	Ave Maria School of Law	FL	116	76.7%	72.8%	71.8%
27	Pepperdine University	CA	117	76.9%	80.0%	78.0%
28	Belmont University	TN	47	78.7%	80.0%	82.0%
29	Louisiana State University	LA	163	79.1%	76.6%	66.9%
30	Seton Hall University	NJ	130	79.2%	76.0%	70.1%
31	Brooklyn Law School	NY	360	80.8%	79.5%	83.3%
32	Washburn University	KS	86	81.4%	78.3%	66.7%
33	Florida International University	FL	91	82.4%	77.2%	82.7%
34	The University of Kansas	KS	34	82.4%	78.5%	76.2%
35	Loyola Marymount University-Los Angeles	CA	216	83.3%	86.9%	82.4%
36	Southern Methodist University	TX	6	83.3%	83.3%	100.0%
37	University of California College of the Law, San Francisco	CA	304	83.6%	82.8%	85.0%
38	University of Baltimore	MD	127	84.3%	82.9%	86.1%
39	The University of New Mexico	NM	41	85.4%	92.3%	90.3%
40	Pontifical Catholic University of Puerto Rico	PR	85	85.9%	66.7%	63.0%
41	Roger Williams University	RI	89	86.5%	86.2%	87.3%
42	Drexel University	PA	30	86.7%	77.4%	67.6%
43	University of Missouri	MO	24	87.5%	75.0%	85.7%
44	Indiana University-Indianapolis	IN	172	88.4%	26.3%	99.4%
45	Loyola University-New Orleans	LA	158	88.6%	96.4%	92.6%
46	University of San Diego	CA	234	89.3%	87.0%	80.5%
47	Quinnipiac University	CT	97	92.8%	91.8%	94.8%
48	Georgia State University	GA	72	93.1%	90.8%	94.3%
49	Samford University	AL	155	95.5%	86.6%	88.2%
50	University of Wyoming	WY	67	95.5%	96.2%	88.5%
51	Howard University	DC	261	100.0%	89.5%	90.8%
52	University of Denver	CO	178	100.0%	98.2%	95.3%
53	Baylor University	TX	140	100.0%	97.5%	79.1%
54	Liberty University	VA	96	100.0%	100.0%	100.0%
55	University of Montana	MT	64	100.0%	96.6%	98.4%
56	Elon University	NC	61	100.0%	100.0%	100.0%
57	University of North Dakota	ND	14	100.0%	100.0%	100.0%
58	West Virginia University	WV	7	100.0%	100.0%	91.7%
59	Brigham Young University	UT	3	100.0%	50.0%	100.0%
60	Inter American University of Puerto Rico	PR	2	100.0%	71.4%	50.0%
61	University of South Dakota	SD	1	100.0%	100.0%	100.0%

How to read this

A rate below roughly 70% means a large share of first-year students lose their scholarship money going into year two, where they are usually too far into the program to leave cheaply. Compare it against the school's bar passage rate and the size of the award before you deposit — a large discount is worth less if the odds behind it are poor. Two schools offering the same dollar amount can carry very different risk.

Smaller cohorts move around more from year to year. Where a school shows only a few students, treat the percentage as a rough signal rather than a stable rate.

Schools that no longer award conditional scholarships

These 10 schools reported no students entering with a conditional scholarship in 2024-25, but still disclose earlier cohorts below.

School	State	2023-24 entered	2022-23 entered
Seton Hall University	NJ	125	107
Baylor University	TX	121	110
Quinnipiac University	CT	61	77
University of District of Columbia	DC	43	30
University of Dayton	OH	n/a	89
Nova Southeastern University	FL	n/a	81
University of Pittsburgh	PA	n/a	88
St. John's University	NY	n/a	197
Stetson University	FL	n/a	12
Temple University	PA	n/a	162

Source: ABA Standard 509 Required Disclosures, 2025 reporting cycle. Figures cover full-time and part-time JD students combined. This page is informational and is not legal or financial advice; always read your own award letter and renewal terms.