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Hofstra Law School, based in Hempstead, NY, is one of many different law schools that feed into the New York City market. Currently ranked 100 by US News and World Report, the school enjoys a better reputation than some of its peers (NYLS, Touro, etc.). However, that being said, risk-averse applicants might want to think twice about attending without significant scholarship money. The school's claim of a median post-graduate salary of $160,000 is suspect, especially in the currently struggling economy. Academics and facilities at the school are slightly lacking, and the school's tuition for full-time students is quite high at $41,780 per year. If you factor in the expensive cost of living near New York City (the ABA estimates that students will spend over $20,000 per year on living expenses alone at Hofstra), students can spend over $60,000 per year for their degree.

As mentioned above, Hofstra's tuition is expensive. Full-time students end up paying $49,780 per year in tuition and fees and part-time students pay $37,260. With an estimated $23,128 in living expenses, students can end up paying over $70,000 per year to attend Hofstra.

To help combat this debt, the school offers a number of its students grants and scholarships. In the last data reported to the ABA, 556 out of 1,142 total students received grant money. Fewer part time students received aid (only 60 out of 272) than full time students (496 out of 870). For those who are selected to receive aid, the school is extremely generous: 306 (or 26.8%) received less than half tuition, 179 (or 15.7%) received half to full tuition, and 71 (or 6.2%) received full tuition. The median grant amount was $16,202 for full time students and $10,000 for part time students.

The most prestigious scholarship that Hofstra offers is its Dwight L. Greene Memorial Scholarship. where students receive full tuition and fees for all three years of law school plus an additional annual stipend of up to $5,000. Only one incoming first year student receives the award each year, and they must have "demonstrated a commitment to advocacy on behalf of minority groups." To read more about the scholarship and its requirements, click the link above.

However, most of Hofstra's scholarships are contingent upon maintaining a GPA of 3.25. For most classes, the school requires that the mean class GPA falls between 3.0 and 3.2, and that the following grade distributions are met:

A or higher: no more than 10 percent

A- or higher: no more than 25 percent

C+ or lower: at least 15 percent

C- or lower: at least 6 percent

In other words, keeping your scholarship can be difficult, especially with the seemingly arbitrary nature of law school grades. Students should be prepared to study and work hard in order to keep their scholarships, as the debt will quickly pile on if loans have to be taken out.

As with many schools, the GPA and LSAT averages for Hofstra's entering class have dropped slightly. In the last data reported to the ABA, only 55.8% of applicants were offered admittance to the school. The school received 2,671 applications, and made only 1,490 offers. Of those 1,490 offers, 213 students decided to matriculate. The school reported the following data for the entering full-time class of :