If you’re thinking about applying to law school, chances are you’ve also been thinking about the costs of applying. Essentially, there are two kinds of costs for applying to law school, and you don’t need to incur both of them to get into the school of your choice. I certainly didn’t. However, you should at least consider the second kind of cost when you’re going through the application process.

The cost of actually applying

This one is easy. If you go to LSAC.org, you’ll be able to find a list of prices for applying to each law school. Honestly, it’s pretty straightforward. First of all, you’re going to have to pay $25 for the LSAC to prepare a report to whatever school you apply to. This is a per school fee, so you can expect to spend $75 if you apply to three schools.

The next part of the application fee is the actual fee each school charges for you to apply. Some schools are completely free, so I’d recommend you apply to some of them. However, most other schools are an additional $50 to $60.

The cost of researching your schools

Lots of people out there like to research the schools they plan on applying to. This could include flying out to prospective schools and touring the campus. Think of it like recruiting in college sports. If you want to play for a certain school, a lot of the time you will reach out to that school and set up a time to meet with the coach, get a tour of the campus, and get a feel for the campus in general.

If this is how you plan on going about your law school research, know that you’re going to be spending money on plane tickets, hotel rooms, and food. So, you can add, depending on how long you stay in the area, somewhere around $500 to $600 per visit.

The choice is ultimately yours on deciding how to figure out what law school you’re going to apply to. Remember, though, you are more than likely going to be practicing law in the area where you go to law school, so you might want to make sure you like the area before you jump in with both feet.