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 — 2020-2021

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 (2020)
Covers: Report year 2020
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	$28,040	$150
Full-time · nonresident	$28,040	$150
Part-time · resident	$20,920	$150
Part-time · nonresident	$20,920	$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 (2020)
Covers: Report year 2020
Retrieved: Sep 23, 2026
Status: Verified · Sep 23, 2026

Open official source

Living off campus$26,140
Living at home$14,020

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$28,040
Mandatory fees$150
Living expenses (off campus, school estimate)$26,140

PreLaw Advisor total$54,330

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 (2020–2021 students)

Source

Organization: American Bar Association, Section of Legal Education and Admissions to the Bar
Document: ABA Standard 509 compilation — Grants and Scholarships (2020)
Covers: Report year 2020
Retrieved: Sep 23, 2026
Status: Verified · Sep 23, 2026

Open official source

Grant recipients and amounts
Measure	All	Full-time	Part-time
Total students	709	594	115
Receiving grants	500	357	143
% receiving grants	Not reported	Not reported	Not reported
Less than half tuition	187	143	44
Half to full tuition	221	153	68
Full tuition	88	58	30
More than full tuition	4	3	1
25th percentile grant	Not applicable	$28,494	$18,912
Median grant	Not applicable	$40,620	$30,732
75th percentile grant	Not applicable	$64,992	$54,540

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 (2020)
Covers: Report year 2020
Retrieved: Sep 23, 2026
Status: Verified · Sep 23, 2026

Open official source

The report does not state whether conditional scholarships are offered.

Entering 2019-2020181 received · 136 reduced or eliminated
Entering 2018-2019164 received · 126 reduced or eliminated
Entering 2017-2018191 received · 67 reduced or eliminated

Figures are School reported to the ABA under Standard 509.