Law Schools, Student Loans

The Top 10 Law Schools With The Most Heavily Indebted Graduates

Which law school graduates have the most debt of all? U.S. News has a ranking for that!

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If you’re a law student or law school graduate, student-loan debt is likely one of your daily concerns. According to the latest information available from the American Bar Association, the average debt load for public law school graduates is $84,000, while the average debt load for private law school graduates is $122,158. If you think that’s bad, the New America Foundation recently reported that average indebtedness for law graduates increased by more than $50,000 between 2004 and 2012, with a typical law student carrying a $140,000 educational debt albatross around his neck.

But which law school graduates have the most debt of all?

U.S. News has a ranking for that, of course. If you’re a fan of schadenfreude, check out this list of the 10 law schools whose 2014 graduates, on average, have the most debt:

  1. Thomas Jefferson School of Law: $172,445 (91% of grads have debt)
  2. New York Law School: $166,622 (83% of grads have debt)
  3. Northwestern University: $163,065 (80% of grads have debt)
  4. Florida Coastal School of Law: $162,785 (93% of grads have debt)
  5. American University: $159,316 (83% of grads have debt)
  6. Vermont Law School: $156,713 (84% of grads have debt)
  7. Touro College: $154,855 (85% of grads have debt)
  8. University of San Francisco: $154,321 (88% of grads have debt)
  9. Columbia University: $154,076 (76% of grads have debt)
  10. Whittier College: $151,602 (91% of grads have debt)

Holy crap. Let’s not forget that these six-figure sums don’t include any debt that might have been accumulated during these would-be lawyers’ undergraduate educations.

It’s worth noting that almost half of these law schools — Thomas Jefferson, Florida Coastal, Touro, and Whittier — are in the “second tier” of the U.S. News rankings, meaning that their numerical ranks are not published for public consumption. The rest of the law schools’ U.S. News ranks range from #4 to #138.

Let’s take a look at some employment statistics to see if all of that debt is really worth it. All employment data is from the class of 2013.

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As we’ve noted previously, going to a low-ranked law school is like “playing Russian Roulette with your financial future.” As you can see, the differences between having high debt from a T14 law school and high debt from a second-tier law school are quite stark in terms of employment outlooks.

The odds really aren’t on your side when you’ve got more than $180K in student debt and a less than 30 percent chance of securing employment as a lawyer. But once again, if you’re willing to bite that bullet, then by all means, please do.

Which law school graduates have the most debt? [U.S. News]

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