Law school investment may not pay back for many law graduates

The payoff for investing in a legal education is questionable. Law school tuition continues to rise and fewer jobs with good pay are available. Regardless, more people than ever enrolled in law school seeking shelter from the recession and now thousands of indebted new attorneys are fighting over a limited number of positions. Article source – Law school investment may not pay down for many law graduates by Personal Money Store.

Law school financial debt cannot be paid with the salary of an attorney

Between 2007 and 2009, 20 percent more people started taking the LSAT. But this year a growing number of law students and law school graduates are unemployed, underemployed and deeply in student loan debt. According to Annie Lowery at Slate, in 2008 there was lots of debt taken out. Thos graduating then had an average of $71,436 in debt when coming from a public law school. Private law graduates had even higher amounts of debt. It was about $91,506 for them. Law school is only a good investment if the starting salary is pretty high. It would have to be $65,000 or more. Most jobs available to law school graduate students pay from $45,000 to $60,000.

Fraction of lawyers see a good Return on investment

Vanderbilt law professor Herwig Schlunk published a study in 2009 about investing in law school titled “Mamas, Don’t Let Your Babies Grow Up to Be … Lawyers.” Whether or not law school is a worthwhile investment is what Schlunk is really concerned about in this study. He factors in high student loan debt also as the opportunity cost of lost income when going to school. Schlunk makes a point of saying you will find only a couple of "hot prospects" that will do well after law school. It is only worth it for them to do law school.

Take my law degree back … please!

Schlunk's lesson had been learned in a terrible way by a law student at the Boston College law school. AFP reports than an unnamed student wrote an open letter to the dean of BC Law, where tuition exceeds $40,000 a year. When graduating in 2011, the student did not think finding a job would be possible while in debt and preparing to be a father. He said he'd quit BC Law school so they'd give him a refund on tuition. He said it had been a win-win situation they were looking at. He could return to teaching and be able to provide for his family without being weighed down by crushing debt. The US News and World Report, which publishes United States of America law school rankings, would not have to have reported to them his future unemployment for BC Law. This was not something BC Law had been willing to do. The offer had been denied.

Articles cited

Washington Post

washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/10/30/AR2010103004638.html

Morningstar

news.morningstar.com/articlenet/article.aspx?id=357051

AFP

google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5hB_oEndpokUpUn4qaCEJ2GweXW0Q?docId=CNG.5a8fb2fbd292773edd5b18a29f896aaa.7f1