The University of California Berkeley School of Law will pay full tuition of all current and future Native American students who enroll at the school. Qualifying students must be both California residents and members of federally registered tribes.
The goal is to make the school a destination for Native American students and to increase the school’s offerings in the area of Indian Law. Berkeley joins Yale Law School and Stanford Law School in removing tuition requirements for underrepresented students. ABA data shows that Native American students made up less than 1% of all first-year law students across the country this academic year. The same data reports that among lawyers nationwide, Native Americans compose only 0.4%.
“Chipping away at the barriers to attendance — and cost is huge — is one part of changing this,” said Kristen Theis-Alvarez, Berkeley Law’s dean of admission and financial aid.
The program will cover around $14,000 of the expected $59,000 cost per student. The school will use existing financial aid to cover the rest. The school hopes to expand the program to non-California residents in the future. The program will begin this fall and cover the tuition for 15 to 18 students during the next few years. Initially, the cost of running this program will be between $300,000 and $500,000 annually.
Berkeley Law to pay full tuition for Native American students
