10 Law Schools With The Least-Indebted Graduates

Where are graduates getting their degrees with the best hope of buying a house?

We’re quick to point out how deeply indebted law school graduates are. Some call that cynical. But we criticize only because we love you, law schools. Every time some mid- to bottom-tier law school jacks up its tuition to hire some new administrator with a dubious profile, the profession suffers because a new generation of lawyers emerges unable and unwilling to take on anything but the highest-paying legal jobs to cover their costs. The “million dollar law degree” is not only a lie, it’s also the cultural mantra of a law school industry that wants every lawyer comfortable with the idea that lawyering is all about the money because that’s the only way to justify the price tag.

But there are some schools that keep the debt load low. Enterprising readers may have uncovered this data from the internals of the U.S. News rankings before, but the good folks over there at the rankings hub news magazine of record decided to highlight indebtedness this week, so let’s take a gander.

As one might expect, state universities in states that traditionally boast a shortage of lawyers (only Missouri appears in the top half of states in lawyers per capita) do the best on this list. And yet the least-indebted graduates attend the only private institution in the top 10.

1. Brigham Young University $54,203
2. University of Hawaii—Manoa $56,266
3. North Carolina Central University $58,061
4. University of Nebraska—Lincoln $62,985
5. University of Arkansas—Fayetteville $63,541
6. University of North Dakota $64,818
7. University of Tennessee—Knoxville $66,201
8. University of Wyoming $67,087
9. University of Missouri $67,289
10. University of Alabama $69,440

So that’s where to go if you don’t want to owe your soul. Well, I guess at a religious school…. OK, there’s where you want to go if you don’t want to owe your two front teeth. Well, Arkansas…. Anyway, these schools don’t leave you in a lot of debt.

There’s no explanation of the curious omission of Howard, which the U.S. News raw numbers claim leaves students with an average $24,021 in debt. Perhaps there are some wild outliers that led to its exclusion.

For BYU and Alabama, this is just piling on in a year of good news. After all, both schools also made the ATL Top 50. Basking in this embarrassment of riches probably kicked off some wild partying in Tuscaloosa.

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And maybe a smile and a sip of caffeine in Provo.

10 Law Schools That Leave Grads With the Least Debt [U.S. News & World Report]

Earlier: ATL Top 50 Law Schools

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