Law Schools

The Worst Law Schools If You Ever Want To Pay Off Your Student Loans

Alums of these schools owe 1.5x more in student loans than their annual compensation.

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Last week, we told you about a report generated by loan refinancing giant SoFi that ranks law schools based on the amount of money graduates make three years after graduation. Initially, we focused on the good news — the law schools that put their graduates in the best position to make bank. But they’ve also published data from the very bottom of their list.

The report focuses on 10 law schools at the bottom of the ranking where the average annual compensation for graduates is lower than the average outstanding student debt. These school give alums a poor return on their investment, so if you’re looking to be clear of student debt quickly, you might want to think twice about these law schools.

As the report notes:

You’ll want to steer clear of the law school programs on our list with a 0.6 or lower salary-to-debt ratio. That means graduates of these programs are burdened with approximately 1.5 times more debt than their annual salary.

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Law school is a huge investment of both time and money. And because there’s a good chance that a large portion of your paycheck in the years immediately following graduation will go toward paying down student loans, it’s important to choose a school that will help you earn a premium salary.

Their methodology pulls data from more than 60,000 refinancing applications submitted to SoFi between January 2014 and December 2016 and averages the salary three years post graduation to compile the list.

But enough of all that — let’s get to the list of shame!

Worst Law School Salary-To-Debt Ratio
School Avg Salary Avg Debt Salary-To-Debt Ratio
Florida Coastal $84,664 $158,427 0.5x
Charlotte School of Law $84,285 $154,802 0.5x
Saint Thomas University School of Law (FL) $96,356 $175,075 0.5x
Barry University $86,908 $156,228 0.6x
Appalachian School of Law $84,366  $143,724  0.6x
Thomas Jefferson School of Law $101,173 $169,951  0.6x
Roger Williams School of Law $94,557 $157,494  0.6x
Elon University $87,680 $145,610  0.6x
Texas A&M $90,665 $149,042  0.6x
Arizona Summit f/k/a Phoenix School of Law $96,115  $155,697  0.6x

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headshotKathryn Rubino is an editor at Above the Law. AtL tipsters are the best, so please connect with her. Feel free to email her with any tips, questions, or comments and follow her on Twitter (@Kathryn1).

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