The top 4 law school loans available in June 2024.

Law school is a significant career move, but it can also be costly. Although personal savings, scholarships, and federal student loans can help with tuition, you may need to explore private student loan lenders for additional funding if necessary.

We compiled the top law school student loans based on loan amounts, fees, repayment terms, and interest rates. (See our methodology for more details on how we created this ranking.)

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Best for long repayment terms

If you prefer a longer repayment term, College Ave is ideal as its law school loans offer repayment terms from five to 20 years. This can be appealing because it means smaller monthly payments.

While studying, borrowers do not have to make any payments. However, those who make payments during school can select from three payment options: paying the full principal and interest, paying only interest, or making a flat $25 monthly payment to decrease accrued interest.

Best for multi-year financing

This is for citizens who want to avoid re-applying for funding every year of school. With its multi-year approval, you can apply for all years of law school in one go. In contrast, traditional federal student loans require you to reapply for every year you will be attending school and need funding.

No origination, application, disbursement, or prepayment fees, and you can receive a 0.25% rate reduction for auto-pay and an additional 0.25% off if you already have an account with the bank.

Best for no fees

Ascent is ideal for those who want to avoid surprise fees. It does not charge an application fee, origination fee, or disbursement fee for its law school loans. Additionally, there is no penalty for paying off your balance earlier than expected.

Ascent provides a 9-month grace period for borrowers after graduation or leaving their program, as well as 1% cash back on principal loan amounts at graduation.

Best for flexibility

This is for Earnest, which offers flexibility because you have a 9-month grace period after graduating where you don't have to make any repayments. Additionally, you can miss one student loan payment per year without penalty, but you must submit a formal request beforehand.

Earnest offers a fee-free loan option with no late payment, origination, or disbursement fees.

College Ave

College Ave is notable for its competitive interest rates, which are even lower with a 0.25% rate discount when you link your bank accounts and set up autopay. Additionally, the lender provides hardship protections such as deferment, forbearance, and grace period options.

Loan amounts

$1,000 to $150,000

Loan terms

5 to 20 years

Citizens

A bank that provides loans for advanced education funding, including master's degrees, MBAs, law school, medical school, and dental school, is called Citizens. Additionally, this bank offers hardship protections such as forbearance, and borrowers can begin repaying their loans while still in school.

Loan amounts

$1,000 to $225,000

Loan terms

5 to 15 years

Ascent

Ascent provides a range of graduate school loan options beyond law school loans, including MBA, medical, dental, doctorate, master's, and health professional loans. Students can borrow up to the total cost of their program, with a maximum funding limit of $400,000. They can opt for a fixed or variable interest rate, and receive a 1% discount on interest rates for autopay. Additionally, Ascent offers deferment and forbearance options for those who need them.

Loan amounts

Up to $400,000

Loan terms

5 to 15 years

Earnest

Earnest offers a 0.25% interest rate discount to borrowers who enroll in autopay and has a minimum FICO® Score requirement of 680. Additionally, it allows applicants to use co-signers if needed and provides borrower protections such as a 9-month grace period.

Loan amounts

Maximum up to the cost of attendance

Loan terms

5 to 15 years

Why trust CNBC Select?

Our mission at CNBC Select is to deliver top-notch service journalism and in-depth consumer advice to help our readers make informed decisions with their money. Each article is based on thorough reporting by our team of expert writers and editors with extensive knowledge of student loan products. Although CNBC Select earns a commission from affiliate partners on many offers and links, we create all our content independently, without any input from our commercial team or outside third parties. We uphold the highest journalistic standards and ethics. For more information on how we select the best graduate school student loans, please refer to our methodology.

Our methodology

We analyzed and compared private student loan funding from various sources and ranked them based on competitive student loan rates.

We compared each of the companies in our article not only for their lower interest rates in the market but also for their specific features.

All of the companies on our list provide both undergraduate and graduate private student loans with variable and fixed interest rate options.
Customizable financing options: Each company offers a range of financing options that borrowers can tailor to their monthly budget and repayment timeline. Additionally, each company enables borrowers to begin repaying their student loans while still in school, which can help them save money.
Our list of companies does not impose prepayment penalties on borrowers who pay off their loans early.
Streamlined application process: We made sure companies offered a fast online application process
Autopay discounts: All of the companies listed offer an autopay interest rate discount
Each company on our list provides financial hardship protection for borrowers.
Private student loans: The aforementioned companies provide various loan sizes, ranging from a few thousand dollars to the full cost of college attendance. Each company showcases its loan sizes, and completing a preapproval process can offer borrowers insight into their interest rate and monthly payment.
We considered the minimum credit scores and income levels if such information was available.
We have a list of companies that offer customer support through phone, email, or secure online messaging. Additionally, we chose lenders with an online resource hub or advice center to assist borrowers in understanding student loans in general.

We ranked our recommendations based on the best options for extended repayment periods, absence of fees, adaptability, and multi-year approval.

Fixed-rate APR guarantees that interest rate and monthly payment will remain consistent throughout the loan term, but private student loan rates and fee structures are subject to change without notice and often fluctuate based on the Fed rate.

The interest rate for a borrower is determined by their credit score, income, debt-to-income ratio, savings, payment history, and overall financial health. To obtain private student loans, lenders will perform a hard credit check and demand a comprehensive application, which may require evidence of income, identity confirmation, address proof, and more.

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