Georgetown Law’s sticker price is $74,000 a year, $222,000 in tuition over three years, roughly $95,000 all-in. Almost nobody strong pays it. Schools at this price point discount aggressively for the credentials they need, which means the real question is not “what does Georgetown Law cost?” but “what will it cost you”, and that number is set months before you enroll, by your LSAT and your leverage.
Line itemFigureNoteAnnual tuition$74,000The pre-leverage numberThree-year tuition$222,000Three years, undiscountedLiving expenses~$20,000 / yrWashington, DCThree-year cost of attendance~$95,000The honest denominatorMerit money opensLSAT 171+Where awards begin
For competitive applicants, meaningfully less than sticker, merit awards open above an LSAT of 171 and scale from there. The sticker price is the price for applicants who arrived without leverage, and the rest of this page is about not being one of them.
Understand what a scholarship is from Georgetown Law’s side of the table: a purchase. The school buys the credentials its ranking requires, and the budget flows to applicants whose numbers defend the published medians. That is why awards cluster above the median, why they grow with distance from it, and why a written offer from a peer school changes the conversation, it puts a market price on you. Always negotiate in writing.
Withheld Tip: sequence matters more than persistence. The largest allocations go to the early pool, apply by November 1, but your negotiating position is set by the offers you hold when awards are decided. Build the peer-school applications first, so the competing numbers exist before the school prices you, not after.
Do the arithmetic the brochure will not do for you: three years of ($74,000 minus your scholarship, plus about $20,000 to live) with interest running from day one. Hold the total against real first-year incomes, regional $65 to 130K, government $55 to 90K, BigLaw $215K where it applies. At sticker, this degree costs about 1.0 years of a regional first-year salary, the single most clarifying ratio in the decision. A degree that only works in the best-case income is not a plan; it is a wager with a registrar’s office.
The rule that protects you from the brochure: price the degree at the median outcome, not the maximum. BigLaw salaries make every debt number look survivable and most graduates never see them. If your plan is public interest, add one verification step, read the current LRAP terms yourself; assistance programs change, and “there’s loan help” is not a term sheet.
Sticker tuition is $74,000 per year, roughly $94,000 once living costs are added. Competitive applicants frequently pay meaningfully less through merit awards that open above an LSAT of 171.
Merit aid at this tier is negotiation-responsive, particularly to written competing offers from peer schools. The negotiation is standard practice, not an imposition, aid offices expect it from leveraged applicants.
That is the sticker question, and sticker is the wrong denominator. Worth is your scholarship-adjusted cost against the school’s real placement outcomes, a calculation that takes ten minutes and changes more decisions than any ranking.
The most expensive sentence in legal education is “the price is the price.” It never is. Georgetown Law sells the same seat at different numbers depending on what the applicant brings to the table, so bring something: points above the median, written competition, and an early file. The discount is earned months before the offer arrives.