Number of Full-Tuition Hurst Horizon Scholarships Increases to 96 for 2025–26

Yale Law School has awarded 96 students its Hurst Horizon Scholarship for 2025–26, continuing an increase in the number of students receiving the full-tuition, need-based scholarship since the program’s launch. Now in its fourth year, the scholarship program currently covers J.D. students in the classes of 2026, 2027, and 2028. 

More than 15% of current J.D. students are Hurst Horizon Scholars. The number of students receiving the scholarship has nearly doubled since its start in 2022. In its first year, 51 students received the scholarship across the J.D. classes.

The Soledad ’92 and Robert Hurst Horizon Scholarship Program supports scholarships for students whose assets are below $150,000. Eligibility was expanded in fall 2023 to include students whose family income is up to 200% of the federal poverty guidelines. Seventy-five scholarships were awarded in the program’s second year, and 89 in its third.

“We are thrilled to see how much of a difference the Hurst Horizon Scholarship Program has made for our students over the course of the last few years,” said Interim Dean and Shibley Family Fund Professor of Law Yair Listokin ’05.

The growth of the Hurst Horizon Scholarship program means that brilliant and talented students who have earned a place at Yale Law School can enroll here with less apprehension about debt.”
—Associate Dean Miriam Ingber ’04

The Hurst Horizon Scholarship Program is the most recent addition to Yale Law School’s robust financial aid program. Each year, through careful fiscal stewardship and the generosity of donors, the Law School spends more than $20 million from its endowment income alone to fund need-based financial aid, which ensures that more than 70% of Yale Law students receive generous financial aid packages that significantly lower the cost of attendance.

“Getting into Yale Law School is its own gift, but getting in and not having to take on $200,000 of debt allows you to focus on your studies and only worry about that,” Hurst Horizon Scholar Justin Lutz ’26 said in a summer 2025 feature about the program. “The education is mine, but the impact belongs to my family and community. It goes so much further than one person. The Hurst Horizon Scholarship could be the thing that breaks the intergenerational cycle of poverty for my family.”

Yale Law School is one of just two law schools in the U.S. that offers financial aid solely based on need. In 2023, the School withdrew from the U.S. News and World Report rankings due in large part to how the rankings incentivized merit scholarships over need-based aid. The move inspired nearly 60 schools follow suit. Since the launch of the Hurst Horizon program, several other schools have also followed Yale Law School’s example by establishing their own need-based aid programs.

Associate Dean of Admissions and Financial Aid Miriam Ingber ’04 said the Hurst Horizon Scholarship makes a real difference for students applying to and enrolling at Yale Law School.

“We are proud to see how transformational this program has been since it launched in 2022,” said Ingber. “The growth of the Hurst Horizon Scholarship program means that brilliant and talented students who have earned a place at Yale Law School can enroll here with less apprehension about debt. It has been amazing to see how many lives it has touched in just a few short years.”