American University Scholarship Calculator
Enter your LSAT and GPA to see where you stand against American University's admitted class and the grant range it actually publishes.
American University reports a median grant of $40,000 per year for students receiving financial aid, and 59% of its students receive aid, with 7% of aid recipients covering full tuition or more. The median award covers about 60% of annual tuition, so the school still costs roughly $26,990 per year in tuition after aid.
Enter your LSAT and/or GPA to see where you stand against this school's admitted class.
How this school's aid is distributed
American University splits its aid across four tiers. The share of students in each tier is what the school reports to the ABA — it is not a projection.
What three years would actually cost you
At American University, three years of tuition, housing and fees cost $294,798 before aid. A grant of $40,000 to $40,000 a year would leave you paying between $174,798 and $174,798 over three years. The lower figure assumes the larger award applies every year, so treat it as a floor rather than a bill.
| Component | Per year | Three years |
|---|---|---|
| Tuition | $66,990 | $200,970 |
| Housing (on campus) | $29,094 | $87,282 |
| Mandatory fees | $2,182 | $6,546 |
| Total before aid | $98,266 | $294,798 |
| Median grant (applied to all three years) | $40,000 | $120,000 |
| Net cost | — | $174,798 |
The net figure applies this school's median award to every year and every student, so it is a floor rather than a bill — it excludes students who receive nothing, tuition increases, and living costs beyond what this school publishes. See the full cost breakdown →
Is this school worth your score?
American University sits in the 57th percentile of law schools by median LSAT but the 88th percentile by median grant, so it gives more aid than its selectivity suggests. Among the 164 schools with both figures reported, that is a gap of 31 percentile points.
Selectivity and generosity are two different things. A school can sit high on one and low on the other — and that gap is the part worth knowing before you decide where to apply.
| Measure | This school | Among 164 comparable schools |
|---|---|---|
| Median LSAT of admitted students | 162 | 57th percentile |
| Median grant for students receiving aid | $40,000 | 88th percentile |
| Gap | +31 points | more aid than its selectivity suggests |
The comparison set is the 164 schools that report an annual tuition figure and a median grant. Schools reporting tuition per credit hour are excluded because there is no annual aid figure to line up against. Percentiles are rank positions, not estimates.
Where this school sits against the extremes
The most and least generous schools relative to their own selectivity, for reference:
| School | LSAT percentile | Grant percentile | Gap |
|---|---|---|---|
| New England Law/Boston | 12th | 88th | +76 |
| California Western School of Law | 21th | 86th | +65 |
| Mitchell/Hamline School of Law | 16th | 79th | +63 |
| The University of Chicago | 98th | 20th | -78 |
| Brigham Young University | 87th | 15th | -72 |
| New York University | 93th | 30th | -63 |
Is American University getting more competitive?
Applications to American University rose from 4,605 for the 2015 entering class to 5,952 for 2025, while the class enrolled 400 students — so there were 14.9 applicants per place, against 10.9 in 2015. Between 2023 and 2025 that figure moved from 13.3 to 14.9, and competition for each place has tightened.
| Entering class | Applications | Offers | Enrolled | Applicants per place |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2015 | 4,605 | 2,727 | 421 | 10.9 |
| 2021 | 6,737 | 1,882 | 402 | 16.8 |
| 2022 | 5,559 | 1,877 | 393 | 14.1 |
| 2023 | 5,368 | 1,916 | 405 | 13.3 |
| 2024 | 5,216 | 2,075 | 408 | 12.8 |
| 2025 | 5,952 | 1,981 | 400 | 14.9 |
Applicants per place is applications divided by the number who actually enrolled. It moves with how selective the school is, not with how many offers it sends — a school can issue more offers without becoming harder to get into. The summary above judges the direction over the three most recent entering classes, not across the whole span: a single unusual year in the middle of eleven is not a trend.
How American University compares to schools at the same level
These are the schools with the closest median LSAT to American University's. The table sorts by median grant, because that is usually what the comparison turns on once the academic profile is close enough — and the three-year net cost column shows what each of those grants actually leaves you paying.
| School | Median grant / yr | Grant vs. selectivity | Three-year net cost | % receiving aid | Applicants per place | Competition, last 3 years | Conditional retention |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| American University (this school) | $40,000 | +31 pt more aid than expected | $174,798 | 59% | 14.9 | tightening | — |
| Chapman University | $59,500 | 0 pt | $109,971 | 59% | 16.5 | tightening | 57.1% |
| Michigan State University | $42,682 | 0 pt | $85,014 | 100% | 10.2 | tightening | — |
| Case Western Reserve University | $42,500 | 0 pt | $165,180 | 98% | 12.7 | tightening | — |
| Belmont University | $40,710 | 0 pt | $147,063 | 62% | 9.8 | level | 78.7% |
| Brooklyn Law School | $34,000 | 0 pt | $238,422 | 91% | 11.1 | tightening | 80.8% |
| Catholic University of America, The | $26,000 | 0 pt | $193,344 | 99% | 10.4 | easing | 73.3% |
| The University of Arizona | $25,235 | 0 pt | $80,931 | 88% | 16.3 | tightening | — |
| University of California-San Francisco | $20,000 | 0 pt | $206,385 | 86% | 12.3 | tightening | 83.6% |
| University of Connecticut | $15,177 | 0 pt | $126,849 | 91% | 15.4 | tightening | — |
| The University of Kansas | $15,000 | — | — | 85% | 10.2 | tightening | 82.4% |
| University of South Carolina | $12,562 | 0 pt | $110,556 | 90% | 9.8 | level | — |
| University of Oklahoma | $12,000 | 0 pt | $122,112 | 89% | 7.1 | tightening | — |
Applicants per place is applications divided by students who enrolled. The competition column compares the most recent three entering classes rather than the full span, because a single year in the middle of that span is not a trend. Conditional retention is the share of students who kept a need-based conditional scholarship after year one review.
What this school's numbers mean
American University is in . It admits 33.3% of applicants, and 59% of its students receive financial aid.
The four tiers above come straight from the school's 509 disclosure. They matter because the same coverage figure can mean very different things — a school where most awards are half-tuition grants and one where most are full-tuition grants offer students something quite different.
Related pages
- American University financial aid breakdown — coverage, award size, all four tiers and conditional outcomes
- American University ABA 509 report — every figure from the disclosure, section by section
- American University cost of attendance — three-year total cost, ranked against every school
- American University admissions data — acceptance, LSAT, GPA, bar passage and class size
- All-school scholarship estimator — compare every ABA law school at once
Common questions
How much scholarship does American University give?
American University reports a median grant of $40,000 per year for students receiving financial aid, and 59% of its students receive aid, with 7% of aid recipients covering full tuition or more. The median award covers about 60% of annual tuition, so the school still costs roughly $26,990 per year in tuition after aid.
What LSAT and GPA does American University admit?
American University admitted students with LSAT scores between 157 and 163, with a median of 162. Its 25th-percentile undergraduate GPA is 3.32 and its 75th-percentile GPA is 3.75, with a median of 3.63.
Does American University reduce conditional scholarships?
American University reports no conditional scholarships, or does not disclose how its conditional awards were reduced after review.
What do the position labels mean?
Above the median means your LSAT is above the school's 75th-percentile LSAT, so you sit in the top quarter of its entering class. Competitive means your LSAT falls between the school's median and 75th-percentile LSAT, which is the range where most admitted students sit. Below the median means your LSAT is between the school's 25th and 50th-percentile LSAT, inside the bottom half of its entering class. Below the 25th percentile means your LSAT is under the bottom quarter of the school's admitted class, and its published aid figures describe students who were admitted rather than your case.
Is American University keeping more conditional scholarships than before?
American University does not report enough years of conditional scholarship data to show a trend.
Is American University becoming more competitive?
Applications to American University rose from 4,605 for the 2015 entering class to 5,952 for 2025, while the class enrolled 400 students — so there were 14.9 applicants per place, against 10.9 in 2015. Between 2023 and 2025 that figure moved from 13.3 to 14.9, and competition for each place has tightened.
Is American University worth its score compared with other law schools?
American University sits in the 57th percentile of law schools by median LSAT but the 88th percentile by median grant, so it gives more aid than its selectivity suggests. Among the 164 schools with both figures reported, that is a gap of 31 percentile points.
Is this an estimate of my offer?
No, and it cannot be. The ABA Standard 509 disclosures publish each school's overall aid distribution, not a mapping from LSAT scores to award amounts. This page shows you American University's real published figures and where your scores land against its admitted class. A tool that prints a single dollar figure for your score is running a model, and the error is invisible to you.