Unsure about going to NLS despite having secured a seat in it, because of exorbitant fee structure. Not securing a rank within AIR 20 makes me ineligible for the Aditya Birla scholarship. Yes, student loans are always an option but i am hesitant about going into debt when i am a teen. Having younger siblings, the last thing i wanna do is ask my parents for help and put them under financial stress. I tried looking for other scholarships, but everything i came across was either for people with an annual income below 6 lakhs or people who belonged to disadvantaged socio economic groups. Any suggestions on how to move forward, information on any scholarships i have missed?

NLSIU has its internal scholarships also, which will depend upon your results and your family income. Don't worry about the student loan that much. SBI will give you one without collateral and you can clear it within 2-3 years after graduation by taking up a job. After that, if you wish to do something else, you will have ample time for that. I had chosen that route for myself.You can also earn while studying by doing a few side hustles like CLAT coaching, which will pay for the mess fees, internship expenses and interest accruing on the loan at the very least. You have got an excellent place to study at, please don't give up hope.

https://www.nls.ac.in/information/students/financial-aid-for-students/

NLS now has extensive financial aid for students. It also covers loan repayments. Check out the link that I have posted.

What a ridiculous question! It's like asking why a Mercedes costs more than a scooter! Dude, this is THE premier law school in India. Its alumni include partners of top firms in London and NY, a QC, professors at Oxford and Columbia, entrants in the Time 100, winners of the Infosys Prize, etc etc. Show me one other law school in India which has achieved even half as much? In terms of costs, honestly it's nothing. It is one of only two Indian law schools ranked in the QS world rankings and charges a fraction of the other one.

If you are really struggling financially, just take a loan, simple. You can walk into any top law firm and pay back the loan very easily. In the worst case, just post on social media and you will immediately get help from senior lawyers and law firms.

> If you are really struggling financially, just take a loan, simple. You can walk into any top law firm and pay back the loan very easily.

That's one of the issues that Madhava Menon had though: if you have high fees, less well-off graduates will have few options OTHER than the corporate and law firm sector to recoup these loans, and NLS was founded in order to also feed other parts of the legal ecosystem. But arguably that ship has already sailed, even without a fee hike.

>In the worst case, just post on social media and you will immediately get help from senior lawyers and law firms.

Is that really true / does that really work?

NLSIU at present does not really offer any huge advantage in terms of legal education compared to other top NLUs, other than the tag and the alumni cohesion. As for the claim of senior lawyers just waiting for social media posts, that's just ridiculous. As someone who has had worked for IDIA earlier, I can say with certainty that it is notoriously difficult to get any financial support from most of that category.

when did i say not to take a loan ? i just said since you're so sure go ahead take down his contact number and be his surety for the loan since he will take it based on your advice, i think its the least you can do rather than giving him a lifetime of debt, and i think in this scenario it is you who is gonna die on that hill.

Insightful post by Husain, Research Fellow at VIDHI

https://www.linkedin.com/posts/husain-aanis-khan-58b232136_legaleducation-diversity-access-activity-7013930979027259393-fdrj?utm_source=share&utm_medium=member_desktop

The recent fee hike at the premier institution of legal education, National Law University, Delhi from ₹163,000 to ₹365,000 will only make high quality legl education more exclusive for those who get excluded on the basis of their financial status. Just another example of how access is traded off for quality. This patter of exclusion exists across the NLUs and has been document by Jamia and NLSIU diversity studies.

The numbers are remarkable: at Jamia half of the entire student body at 49.9% had a family income of less than ₹50,000 per month. Such students at the NLSIU were less than even half of that at 18.9%. Students with a high family income of more than ₹300,000 per month were a mere 2.54% at Jamia. But, almost 6 times more at NLSIU at 14.86%. Those with an income of more than ₹100,000 per month were 21% at Jamia and NLSIU 53.09%. Students with annual family income of less than ₹25000 per month were 6.55% and 4.5 times more at the NLSIU at 29.9%.

Source 1: Husain Aanis Khan, Inclusivity and Diversity in Minority Central University (2020)

https://lnkd.in/g_XbPgWx

Source 2: Chirayu Jain, et al, The Elusive Island of Excellence - A Study on Student Demographics, Accessibility and Inclusivity at National Law School 2015-16 (2018)

https://lnkd.in/dN59yrgQ

The funding has decreased in the last few years. The fees has increased from 2.8L per annum to 3.27L per annum. Even IIT Bombay hasnt crossed the 3L threshold. Students prepare for months to secure a seat in the so called best law college, but then are hit with its massive fees. The government needs to bring about a legislation which prevents these institutions from increasing their fee in such an arbitrary manner and if such a legislation already exists, the government need to see to it that it is being enforced. The middle class kids are the ones who have it the worst, rich kids have their parents, the poor have the government....but middle class kids have no one.

Just take the loan and go ahead with it. SBI offers one without collateral and if you couple it with the internal scholarship offered by the college and IDIA, it is will significantly reduce the burden on you. Finally, after graduating, NLSIU offers virtually every student a Tier 1 law firm job (There was 100% placement this year for those who didn't fail) so if you are really keen on getting good education make the most out of it and you will be able to easily repay the loan in 2-3 years

Please do not give up an opportunity of a lifetime purely on account of financial issues. Go ahead and join even if you have to take a loan for the first instalment of fees. As someone who has done that and benefitted from the generous NLSIU scholarships, I highly recommend this route. I have been able to do well enough to give back to the institution in many ways including financially. So, just remember to do that when you start earning, so that many years later, some other similarly placed student can benefit from your generous donations.