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The Quickly Exploding Law Graduate Debt Disaster

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The average indebtedness figures for 2011 law graduates are stunning. Last year, 4 law schools had graduates with average debt exceeding $135,000. This year 17 law schools are above $135,000. Last year the highest average debt among graduates was $145,621 (Cal. Western); this year the highest average debt is $165,178 (John Marshall). Below are the 20 schools with the highest average law school debt among graduates (these figures do not include undergraduate debt).

John Marshall Chicago $165,178
California Western $153,145
Thomas Jefferson $153,006
American $151,318
New York Law School $146,230
Phoenix $145,357
Southwestern $142,606
Catholic (DC) $142,222
Northwestern $139,101
Pace University $139,007
Whittier $138,961
Atlanta’s John Marshall $138,819
Pacific (McGeorge) $138,267
St. Thomas (FL) $137,721
Univ. San Francisco $137,234
Vermont Law School $136,089
Golden Gate $135,645
Florida Coastal $134,355
Stetson $133,082
Syracuse $132,993

What’s remarkable is that the majority of graduates from these law schools — with the exception of Northwestern — do not obtain jobs with salaries sufficient to make the monthly loan payments due on the average debt. At some of these schools 90% or more of graduates with debt do not earn enough to make the loan payments on this level of debt (not all indebted students will carry the average debt).

Consider Thomas Jefferson, with average law graduate debt of $153,000. According to statistics provided by the school, only 33% of graduates landed jobs as lawyers in 2010. Most of the graduates who obtained lawyer jobs earned around $60,000 or less. (This estimate is based on the fact that the bulk who landed these jobs worked in firms of 2 to 10 lawyers; the salary figures supplied by TJ are based upon 16% reporting, and consequently are unreliable.) The placement numbers for the class of 2011 will be the same or worse (only 33% of Thomas Jefferson’s 2011 graduates passed the California bar).

A simple calculation shows that many TJ graduates are in severe financial straits. Let’s assume that taxes will take 30% of the graduate’s $60,000 pay, leaving net monthly income of $3,500. The monthly loan payment due on $153,000 debt is $1,800; rent for a modest one bedroom apartment in San Diego is $1,200–totaling a combined outlay of $3,000. This leaves the graduate with $500 a month to spend after making rent and loan payments. It is not doable. Graduates in this position will be forced to enter Income Based Repayment, a reduced payment program that helps graduates in financial hardship avoid default, but which has significant negative consequences of its own (in particular, the loan balance will quickly balloon and will negatively affect the graduate’s FICO score).

This is not just about Thomas Jefferson, of course. Eight of the law schools on the above list are in the bottom tier of US News, and 16 of the 20 schools are outside the top 100. At a number of these schools only half or fewer of the graduates will have obtained full time jobs as lawyers (these statistics should be available soon), and most of those who land lawyer jobs will earn $65,000 or less. At these debt levels, only graduates who obtain NLJ 250 jobs can manage the monthly loan payments–and on the above list only Northwestern places a significant percentage of graduates in these jobs.

Thousands of 2011 law graduates across the country will not earn enough to manage the debt they incurred to obtain their law degree.

When will law schools decide that they cannot continue to inflict ever increasing levels of unmanageable debt on their students? At the very least, the admissions offices at law schools across the country should explicitly warn students that anyone who expects to incur law school debt above $100,000 will likely suffer financial distress upon graduation unless they land a NLJ 250 job or a public service job that qualifies for reduced loan payments–and admitted students should be told that relatively few graduates get these jobs. Unfortunately, we cannot count on law schools to provide this message–which, if effective, would result in some schools closing their doors for lack of enough paying students.

This financial insanity will not stop until significant changes are made to the federal student loan program.

Brian Tamanaha

Brian Tamanaha

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