University of Hawaii William S. Richardson School of Law

Updated Law School COVID-19 Response

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Types of Financial Aid

VIsiting students

Incoming Visiting Students

If you have been accepted to the UH Law School as a visiting student and need financial aid to meet your educational costs, you must arrange to process your financial aid with your home institution. Typically, incoming visiting students pay our non-resident tuition. Your home institution must forward a consortium agreement form to the Law School Financial Aid Office.

Outgoing Visiting Students

If you have been granted permission to study at another US law school for credit toward your UH Law School degree and are borrowing educational loans to meet your educational costs, you must notify the Financial Aid Office as soon as possible.

We will ask the host school to complete a consortium agreement. We will process loan applications if you will receive your degree from us while you are studying at another US law school. The host school will be asked to provide us with information regarding your dates of attendance, cost of attendance, and enrollment status.

SUMMER financial aid

General Summer Scholarships can be found at the following websites listed below:
  • AFL-CIO Law Student Union Summer – $600 stipend for 10 weeks. Students will work at on-site locations throughout the country and must be a 1L or 2L student with a demonstrated interest in the practice of labor-related public interest law. Applications for 2L’s usually due December and 1L’s usually due in January.
  • ASIL International Law Fellows Program – For recent graduates. Full-time, 6 month, professional experience working on ASIL publications and program implementation. May be recruiting for multiple positions. See website for further details. In light of the ongoing uncertainty caused by the global spread of COVID-19, the Society is refraining from scheduling interviews for any open positions.
  • ABA Antitrust Law Janet D. Steiger Fellowship Work in the consumer protection and antitrust departments of state Officers of Attorneys General and other governmental offices throughout the US. Deadline: November 13.
  • Foreign Language and Area Studies (FLAS) Summer Fellowship  ($2,500 stipend and tuition up to $4,000) for U.S. citizen or permanent resident graduate students who will enroll in a formal summer program of intensive language study in Southeast Asia with 120 contact hours in language level 3 & level 4. Deadline: Friday, January 18, 2021 at 5PM HST.
  • Michael Maggio Immigrants’ Rights Summer Fellowship Program – $1,500 stipend for 10 week Fellowship. For current law students who have demonstrated a commitment to social justice and/or immigrants’ rights. Deadline: February 12, 2021.
  • Peggy Browning Fund Fellowships for Law Students – 10-week fellowship during the summer at labor-related organizations. Deadline January 15, 2021.
  • Property and Environment Research Center Fellowships – Many fellowships available to expose individuals to free-market environmentalism, allow students to generate research output on property rights and environmental quality for publication, allow scholars to find new applications of free market environmentalism. See website to see all available fellowships and how to apply.
  • Robert Masur Fellowship in Civil Liberties – Open to first-year law students who intend to carry out significant activities during the summer (in between their first and second year) in the areas of civil rights and/or civil liberties. The fellowship recipients each receive a $2,000 honorarium.  No email applications will be considered; all applicants must send a hard copy. Application to open early Spring 2021.
Diversity Summer Scholarships can be found at the following websites listed below:
  • Arent Fox Annual Diversity Scholarship Program – The BOS, DC, LA, NY, and SF offices will each award one 2L law student $20,000 and a salaried position. The scholarship will be paid in two installments. Electronic application, essay, resume, transcript, legal analysis, and 3 references required. The Firm will accept applications on a rolling basis for the 2021 program this Fall.
  • Cooley Godward Kronish LLP Diversity Fellowship – Up to $30,000 over 3 years. Application, personal statement, resume, and transcripts required. Deadline January 8, 2021.
  • Faegre, Baker, Daniels Diversity & Inclusion Fellowships – $10,000. For students anticipating graduating in 2016. Fellowship awardees will each receive a 10-week summer clerkship. Cover letter, office preference, resume, law school transcript, and personal statement required. Deadlines vary upon location.

study abroad

Visit the Toshizo Watanabe Study Abroad Scholarship Program [www.usjapancouncil.org] – The Toshizo Watanabe Endowed Scholarship Fund/Toshizo Watanabe Study Abroad Scholarship Program provides financial assistance to undergraduates/graduate students for a semester or year-long study abroad program in either the United States or Japan. A generous endowment gift of $10 million from Mr. Toshizo (Tom) Watanabe to the U.S.-Japan Council makes it possible to award scholarships to students for whom study abroad would not be possible without financial support. The scholarship will support up to the full cost of attendance to the study abroad program of the applicant’s choice. The scholarship program grants awards to recipients in amounts determined by financial need and other qualifications.

Due to the impacts of COVID-19, the application will not be opening for the year 2021 (for Fall 2021 – Spring 2022 disbursement). The next application period is scheduled to open January 2022, for Fall 2022 – Spring 2023 [1] disbursement.

International Student

The William S. Richardson School of Law has limited financial assistance to offer international students who are not U.S. citizens or permanent residents. Outstanding applicants may be eligible for a small amount of scholarship support. Additionally, continuing students are eligible to apply for a select number of internal scholarships geared towards international students.

To cover the costs of tuition and other living expenses, we encourage international students to seek the following resources below:

International students may be eligible for private loans if they have a cosigner who is a U.S. citizen or permanent resident. The cosigner must have lived in the United States for the past two years and must have good credit (cosigners may request a free report from Annual Credit Report.com.

For private educational loan programs, it is the student’s responsibility to secure an eligible cosigner, and it is recommended to do so as soon as possible. Students should submit applications for private loans well in advance of planned registration at the law school so they can determine whether their cosigner meets the lender’s credit criteria.

Check with your private loan lender to find out if a U.S. Social Security Number (SSN) is required of the student or only of the cosigner at the time of application. For some loan programs, applicants may need to begin the SSN application process before the start of the academic year. International students should note that they cannot obtain a U.S. Social Security Number unless they are currently living in the United States.

Currently, the following lenders offer private loans for international students who have cosigners:

  • PNC Bank
  • Sallie Mae
  • Charter One
  • Wells Fargo
  • Discover
  • Citizens Bank

To compare private loans, please visit the International Education Financial Aid website.

While we are unable to provide comprehensive funding that covers full tuition costs or living expenses, we encourage applicants to seek scholarships and additional funding in their home countries and in the United States. Some outside sources of funding are listed below: