Residency status is granted through the central Admissions Office and not through the School of Law. Full details and requirements can be found on UMKC's Residency website.

All non-Missouri resident applicants are considered for non-resident tuition scholarships, which serve to vastly reduce out-of-state tuition and, in most cases, make the tuition a student pays equivalent to in-state tuition.

Note: Non-resident tuition scholarships are awarded to admitted students within approximately 2-4 weeks of admission, and this notification will arrive via postal mail.

Yes, we have three full merit-based scholarships that are awarded each year – the Jack and Helyn Miller Scholarship, the Julian Klein Davidson Scholarship and the Professor Julie Cheslik Merit Scholarship. These scholarships cover full tuition, provide a book stipend and cover the UMKC bar preparation course. Additionally, the Miller and Davidson awards cover tuition to attend one of UMKC’s study abroad programs.

Students who meet the academic eligibility requirements for these scholarships will be invited to apply, and those selected as finalists are required to interview in person on Scholarship Day (typically in mid-March).

Students are considered for general merit scholarships based on their applications for admission. These scholarships are awarded within 2-4 weeks of a student being admitted. Some of our scholarships require an application, and students are selected within about a month of the application deadline – typically in the late spring. 

If you are a 2L or 3L, there are still other scholarships available to you. You can find out more about these opportunities on RooLaw (the UMKC Law intranet).

Paying your seat deposits constitutes acceptance of your scholarship as well as your seat in the class.

If a student receives an outside scholarship, they should send a copy of their award letter to the financial aid office.  Scholarships from all sources are used to determine eligibility for federal loans. Even students who are not applying for federal loans should submit this information so that we can match the scholarship award check to the student recipient once it is received on campus.

If you have been offered a renewable scholarship (i.e. your scholarship letter indicates that you will receive a certain amount in your 2L and 3L year in addition to your first year of law school), your letter will include the terms and criteria you will need to meet in order to retain your full scholarship amount.

Our faculty, Student Services Director, and Deans all keep an eye out for students who may be experiencing academic difficulties, and they work very hard to help every student find success.  Because of this personal attention and care, we have an extraordinarily high scholarship retention rate.