San Diego, California

California Western School of Law

Accreditation: ABA approved since 1962
Institution type: Private
J.D. formats: Full-time and Part-time J.D.
Website: Official website (opens in a new tab)

Median LSAT: 155; Fall 2025 entering class
Median GPA: 3.50; Fall 2025 entering class
Resident tuition: $64,720; Full-time, 2025-2026
First-year class: 242; Enrolled fall 2025
Bar-required jobs: 74.1%; Class of 2025, full-time long-term
First-time bar passage: 71.4%; 2025 graduates

Latest verified values from ABA required disclosures. Each dataset describes a different class, as labelled. The job share is PreLaw Advisor’s arithmetic (full-time, long-term bar-passage-required positions ÷ total graduates), not an ABA-published figure.

Tuition & mandatory fees — 2025-2026

Source

Organization: American Bar Association, Section of Legal Education and Admissions to the Bar
Document: ABA Standard 509 compilation — Tuitions and Fees/Living Expenses/Cond. Scholarships (2025)
Covers: Report year 2025
Retrieved: Sep 23, 2026
Status: Verified · Sep 23, 2026

Open official source

Tuition and fees by program and residency
Program	Tuition	Fees
Full-time · resident	$64,720	$150
Full-time · nonresident	$64,720	$150
Part-time · resident	$48,440	$150
Part-time · nonresident	$48,440	$150

Living expenses (school estimates)

Source

Organization: American Bar Association, Section of Legal Education and Admissions to the Bar
Document: ABA Standard 509 compilation — Tuitions and Fees/Living Expenses/Cond. Scholarships (2025)
Covers: Report year 2025
Retrieved: Sep 23, 2026
Status: Verified · Sep 23, 2026

Open official source

Living off campus$34,342
Living on a military base$9,456

Annual estimates for single students, as reported by the school. Books, transportation and insurance are not itemized in ABA disclosures.

Estimated annual cost (calculation)

Tuition$64,720
Mandatory fees$150
Living expenses (off campus, school estimate)$34,342

PreLaw Advisor total$99,212

Sum of the school-published figures above. It is not the school’s official cost of attendance and assumes no scholarship.

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Grants & scholarships (2025–2026 students)

Source

Organization: American Bar Association, Section of Legal Education and Admissions to the Bar
Document: ABA Standard 509 compilation — Grants and Scholarships (2025)
Covers: Report year 2025
Retrieved: Sep 23, 2026
Status: Verified · Sep 23, 2026

Open official source

Grant recipients and amounts
Measure	All	Full-time	Part-time
Total students	650	564	86
Receiving grants	392	346	46
% receiving grants	60%	61%	53%
Less than half tuition	157	141	16
Half to full tuition	158	137	21
Full tuition	77	68	9
More than full tuition	0	0	0
25th percentile grant	Not applicable	$18,720	$9,336
Median grant	Not applicable	$37,440	$23,340
75th percentile grant	Not applicable	$53,040	$35,010

The ABA publishes grant percentiles by full-time/part-time status only. These describe past awards; they do not indicate what any applicant will receive.

Conditional scholarships

Source

Organization: American Bar Association, Section of Legal Education and Admissions to the Bar
Document: ABA Standard 509 compilation — Tuitions and Fees/Living Expenses/Cond. Scholarships (2025)
Covers: Report year 2025
Retrieved: Sep 23, 2026
Status: Verified · Sep 23, 2026

Open official source

The school reports offering conditional scholarships (awards that can be reduced or eliminated, e.g. for grades).

Entering 2024-2025199 received · 126 reduced or eliminated
Entering 2023-2024191 received · 130 reduced or eliminated
Entering 2022-2023194 received · 124 reduced or eliminated

Figures are School reported to the ABA under Standard 509.