Law Schools

The Law Schools With The Highest Student Loan Default Rates

Damned to lifetimes of debt, graduates of these law schools have been defaulting on their student loans.

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Here at Above the Law, time and time again, we’ve warned both prospective and current law students about the dangers of student loans. According to the most recent data available for the class of 2018, the average law school graduate who took out loans to attend school has a debt of $115,481 (that’s an average of $91,803 for public schools and an average of $130,373 for private schools). With debt loads that large, it is imperative that law school graduates secure employment with salaries high enough to service those loans, lest they risk defaulting on their debts. Given the disheartening employment statistics that some law schools have continued to post year after year, it seems obvious that graduates will have issues when it comes to repaying their debts; some graduates will allow their loans to fall into delinquency, and other graduates will default on their loans outright.

The consequences of student loan default are severe, and can range from wage garnishments to Treasury offsets to acceleration of the entire debt owed. This is not a situation that anyone would want to deal with at any time in their lives, but some law school graduates have been forced to endure the disastrous repercussions of default.

Are graduates of your law school at risk of defaulting on their student loans?

The latest information from the U.S. Department of Education may provide some guidance. During the tracking period for Fiscal Year 2016 — which includes data from October 1, 2015 to September 30, 2018 for borrowers who entered repayment in 2016 and defaulted in 2016, 2017, or 2018 — more than 20 freestanding law schools (i.e., law schools that aren’t affiliated with any college or university) reported student loan default rates of up to 5.5 percent. For what it’s worth, reliable data is currently unavailable for law schools affiliated with undergraduate colleges or universities because those default rates are included with their parent schools’ rates.

According to data collected by LendEDU, these are the freestanding law schools with the highest student loan default rates for Fiscal Year 2016 (some of these schools are unaccredited by the ABA, one is on ABA probation, and one has closed entirely):

Massachusetts School Of Law At Andover Massachusetts Private, Non Profit

5.50%
Mitchell Hamline School Of Law Minnesota Private, Non Profit

4.80%
Vermont Law School Vermont Private, Non Profit

3.70%
San Joaquin College Of Law California Private, Non Profit*

3.40%
Thomas M. Cooley Law School Michigan Private, Non Profit

3.40%
Thomas Jefferson School Of Law California Private, Non Profit

3.10%
New England Law | Boston Massachusetts Private, Non Profit

2.20%
New York Law School New York Private, Non Profit

2.10%
Charleston School Of Law South Carolina Proprietary

1.80%
CUNY School Of Law New York Public

1.70%
Atlanta’s John Marshall Law School Georgia Proprietary

1.60%
Florida Coastal School Of Law Florida Proprietary

1.40%
John Marshall Law School Illinois Private, Non Profit

1.40%
Appalachian School Of Law Virginia Private, Non Profit

1.30%
Albany Law School Of Union University New York Private, Non Profit

1.20%
Southwestern Law School California Private, Non Profit

1.10%
UC Hastings California Public

1.00%
Brooklyn Law School New York Private, Non Profit

1.00%
South Texas College Of Law Houston Texas Private, Non Profit

1.00%
Ave Maria School Of Law Florida Private, Non Profit

0.80%
Michigan State University College Of Law Michigan Private, Non Profit

0.70%
California Western School Of Law California Private, Non Profit

0.70%

If you’re having financial difficulties and you’re afraid that you will default on your student debt obligations, there are things you can do to take control of the situation. If you’re struggling to make your payments, call your loan servicer and figure out how to change your repayment plan. There are several income-based options that may be of considerable help to you. You can also enter into a deferral or a forbearance that will allow you to temporarily stop paying your loans to avoid default (although we must warn you that the interest on those loans will continue to pile up).

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While you may not be able to control your employment opportunities, the federal government has provided loan holders with many opportunities to avoid default. Use them wisely, and you may be able to save your financial future from further damage.

Law school loan default rates low, with median below 2% [National Jurist]
A Look at Student Loan Default Rates by School & State [LendEDU]

Staci ZaretskyStaci Zaretsky is a senior editor at Above the Law, where she’s worked since 2011. She’d love to hear from you, so please feel free to email her with any tips, questions, comments, or critiques. You can follow her on Twitter or connect with her on LinkedIn.

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