Los Angeles, California

Southwestern Law School

Accreditation: ABA approved since 1970
Institution type: Private
J.D. formats: Full-time and Part-time and Distance education J.D.
Website: Official website (opens in a new tab)

Median LSAT: 157; Fall 2025 entering class
Median GPA: 3.51; Fall 2025 entering class
Resident tuition: $63,160; Full-time, 2025-2026
First-year class: 459; Enrolled fall 2025
Bar-required jobs: 78.6%; Class of 2025, full-time long-term
First-time bar passage: 72.1%; 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 — 2017-2018

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 (2017)
Covers: Report year 2017
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	$52,090	Not reported
Full-time · nonresident	$52,090	Not reported
Part-time · resident	$34,810	Not reported
Part-time · nonresident	$34,810	Not reported

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 (2017)
Covers: Report year 2017
Retrieved: Sep 23, 2026
Status: Verified · Sep 23, 2026

Open official source

Living on campus$26,430
Living off campus$30,750
Living at home$15,675

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$52,090
Living expenses (off campus, school estimate)$30,750

PreLaw Advisor total$82,840

Not included (not published): Mandatory fees.

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 (2017–2018 students)

Source

Organization: American Bar Association, Section of Legal Education and Admissions to the Bar
Document: ABA Standard 509 compilation — Grants and Scholarships (2017)
Covers: Report year 2017
Retrieved: Sep 23, 2026
Status: Verified · Sep 23, 2026

Open official source

Grant recipients and amounts
Measure	All	Full-time	Part-time
Total students	865	607	258
Receiving grants	430	316	114
% receiving grants	Not reported	Not reported	Not reported
Less than half tuition	264	186	78
Half to full tuition	149	117	32
Full tuition	13	9	4
More than full tuition	4	4	0
25th percentile grant	Not applicable	$9,951	$5,381
Median grant	Not applicable	$19,975	$12,764
75th percentile grant	Not applicable	$32,685	$19,990

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 (2017)
Covers: Report year 2017
Retrieved: Sep 23, 2026
Status: Verified · Sep 23, 2026

Open official source

The report does not state whether conditional scholarships are offered.

Entering 2016-2017107 received · 48 reduced or eliminated
Entering 2015-201687 received · 36 reduced or eliminated
Entering 2014-201586 received · 13 reduced or eliminated

Figures are School reported to the ABA under Standard 509.