There has been much discussion over the last several years about whether law school needs to be three years long. Indeed, many people in academia and the legal industry at large have advocated for reducing the time it takes to earn a law degree so students can save money and time. I have never really seen a good argument for why law school should be longer than two years. Some might argue that making law school three years long poses a barrier to entry for people entering the legal profession. However, this rationale can hardly be used to justify burdening law students with massive amounts of student debt.
Most of us realize that the third year of law school is a total waste of time. Law school does not teach you how to practice law, and an attorney learns all the skills they need in the first two years of their legal education. However, many people might not realize that some law schools do offer two-year JD degree programs. It is amazing to me that some law schools would try to reduce costs by cutting the length of law school, and I have heard positive stories about accelerated JD programs. All told, If I could do it all over again, I would definitely attend law school through an accelerated program so that I could minimize my student debt.
Many two-year law degree programs have the same tuition costs as three-year programs. However, you can save a massive amount of money on living expenses if you graduate from law school in only two years. Of course, living costs can vary from law school to law school and whether you attend law school in a city or in a more rural area. When I was in law school in DC, my living expenses were easily around $20,000 a year, so if I attended law school for only two years, I would have borrowed $20,000 less to earn my law degree.
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In addition, by attending law school for a shorter period of time, I would have also reduced the amount of accrued interest I needed to pay back. As a student, you are not making any payments on your student loans, since payments are usually deferred until six months after you graduate. However, the loans will continue to accrue interest that will be added to the sum you will eventually need to pay back.
As a law student, up to $10,000 a year in interest accrued on my student loans. If I attended law school for a year less, I could have avoided this expense altogether. I would have entered the workforce earlier, started paying back my student loans, and avoided a ton of accrued interest.
In addition, attending law school for only two years would have added a year to my life that I could have spent in the workforce. Sure, it can be fun to stay in the cocoon of higher education. I was especially wrapped up in the higher education life, and I had never lived in off-campus housing prior to graduating from law school. I loved the social life of law school, having a regimented routine, and it was genuinely interesting to learn about many of the topics taught in law school.
However, in the greater scheme of things, it would have been better for me to have just entered the workforce earlier. If I had starting paying off my student loans sooner, I could have been debt-free earlier than I was, which would have allowed me to pursue other life goals. I could have saved for retirement sooner, and we all know how saving just a year earlier can have a massive impact on the amount of money one has for retirement. I could have also had a down payment for a home sooner, and could have avoided wasting money on rent a year earlier. Or I even could have spent the extra year traveling, pursuing a passion, or doing something more fulfilling than simply sitting in class for another year.
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Of course, two-year law school programs are not for everyone. Indeed, if you want to complete a clinic, or are seriously interested in learning a variety of subjects, then you may want to stay in law school for all three years. And if your parents are paying for your law school expenses, it might be best to just live in the higher education cocoon as long as you can as Billy Madison famously implored!
However, for the vast majority of law students, two-year JD programs make sense. They allow individuals to graduate law school with less debt and have an extra year to do things that are a lot more valuable with their time. Of course people might argue that something is lost when law students do not get to study for three years and that this can negatively impact future attorneys. Nevertheless, we all know that law school does not really prepare anyone to be a lawyer (that’s what bar review courses are for!) and the gain of being less burdened with debt is well worth any sacrifice.
Jordan Rothman is the founder of Student Debt Diaries, a personal finance website discussing how he paid off all $197,890.20 of his college and law school student loans over 46 months of his late 20s. You can reach him at [email protected].