Law Schools That Won't Drown You in Debt Still Exist

By Jonathan R. Tung, Esq. on July 20, 2016 | Last updated on March 21, 2019

If you're worried about law school debt, you should be. If you attend law school, you may or may not end up with your dream job, but you will certainly end up with a monstrous pile of debt. The good news is that there are still schools out there that are graduating JDs without drowning them in loans. A new list from US News reports features the law schools you may want to consider.

We should point out, however, that the grand majority of the schools on the list aren't exactly the top institutions. And in the highly status-conscious world of law, this may be a make-or-breaker for you.

Funds Getting Thinner

The refrain that everyone is getting tired of hearing is that law school is expensive and costs are only going up. Back in 2012, the average yearly tuition cost of law school was about $36,000; now, the number is now more like $40 grand a year.

According to the U.S. News' numbers collected from 183 law schools, the average loan amount for students was $112,748 -- which really means that some students are likely borrowing much more.

School That Graduate Students With the Least Debt

According to the report, the prize for lowest debt was taken by University of Hawaii -- Manoa at $54,948.

Other honorable mentions include U of South Dakota, Georgia State University, and Liberty University in Virginia. And with regard to the schools associated with the least amount of borrowing, the average debt load came in around $62K. This is manageable.

Good Tradeoffs

In the top ten of least debt schools, we noticed that Brigham Young University Law made it to the list. This is notable because Brigham Young, unlike so many other schools on the list, is at least a top 50 school, a sine qua non for many employers. Students dismiss this factor at their peril.

Most Debt?

And the prize winner for the school that was associated with most debt at $172,726? No wonder this school has had so much negative publicity lately.

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