Law school debt and lawyer salaries don't stabilize

Whether or not it's worth going into financial debt for law school is open to question. As law school tuition rises, the number of job openings within the industry is falling. Regardless, more individuals than ever enrolled in law school seeking shelter from the economic recession and now thousands of indebted new lawyers are fighting over a limited number of positions. Article source – Law school investment might not settle for most law graduates by Personal Money Store.

An excessive amount of debt with law school hurts with wages

The number of individuals taking the LSAT jumped more than 20 percent between 2007 and 2009. But this year a growing number of law students and law school graduates are unemployed, underemployed and deeply in student loan debt. Annie Lowery at Slate accounts that as of 2008, public law school students graduated with an average of $71,436 in debt. Private law graduates averaged $91,506. Lowery writes that a beginning salary that would make law school a good investment is about $65,000. About $45,000 to $60,000 is what most graduates end up making after law school.

Minority of lawyers see a good Return on investment

In 2009, a study about committing to law school came out by Vanderbilt law professor Herwig Schlunk called, “Mamas, Do not 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. The report discusses some of the opportunity cost of lost income while going to school. The high student loan debt is discussed also. Schlunk concludes that investing in law school will only pay back for a small minority of “hot prospects.".

Requesting to take a law degree back

A law student at the Boston College Law school has learned Schlunk’s lessons the hard way. AFP reports than an unnamed student wrote an open letter to the dean of BC Law, where tuition exceeds $40,000 a year. The student was about to be a father and was graduating in 2011. This student had been also in deep financial debt and didn't think he'd be able to find a job. He said he'd quit BC Law school so they'd give him a refund on tuition. He said it was a win-win situation they were looking at. He could provide for his family once more teaching. The financial debt wouldn't crush him either. The US News and World Report, which publishes U.S. law school rankings, would not have to have reported to them his future joblessness for BC Law. His offer was not accepted by BC Law.

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