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#Law School And Student Loan Debt: Be Careful

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For many students in political science, history, or other liberal arts majors, law school always seemed like a smart choice after college. Being a lawyer, at least as depicted on television, meant wearing nice suits, earning a good salary, and having a life you enjoy.

However, the reality for many law school graduates is much different. Over the last few years, there has been a deluge of law school graduates, which has pushed down starting wages, increased competition for the few positions available, and left a lot of graduates buried in private student loan debt with not enough income to repay it.

The Costs Of A Law Degree

According to the American Bar Association. the average debt taken on by a law school graduate was $84,000 if you attend public schools and $122,158 if you attend private schools. This is just for going to law school and doesn’t include the cost of undergraduate education.

The larger issue with taking on so much debt for a law degree is that the majority of this money has to be borrowed through private student loans, which offer far fewer student loan forgiveness options and repayment plans. Private student loans also carry more risk than Federal student loans. This just leads to more borrowers being in financial trouble for attempting to go to law school.

Few Jobs, Little Income

With the rising amount of students getting law degrees, it has increased competition for jobs and lowered salaries as a result. In 2007, over 91% of law school graduates were able to get a job after graduation. However, by 2013, that number had dropped to just 84.5% of graduates. However, only 51% were employed in law firm jobs, which is well below the trend of the last 25 years according to The Association for Legal Career Professionals .

This has pushed many graduates into lower paying jobs in the public sector or even in totally different career fields. However, even if the graduate isn’t earning the salary they expected, the student loan debt still needs to be repaid.