While at this point we are well aware of the financial constraints recent law grads are under, the Hartford Business Journal breaks down the numbers. The amount of law school applicants may have surged in 2009 and 2010, but they have decreased nationwide this year by 11.1 percent.
As the HBJ elaborates, “All modern economic recessions in this country have seen an initial surge in law school applications as people decide to make themselves more employable with advanced degrees, followed by a slump in applications as the legal job market became tougher.” Yet, “the wrinkle this time is the cost of law school has far outpaced the rate of inflation.”
According to the ABA, “the average amount borrowed annually by law students jumped 50 percent from 2001 to 2010.” The amount borrowed this past academic year was an average of $68,827 for public and $106,249 for private educations.
And to really put things in perspective, the HBJ notes that “law school debt essentially means a lawyer must make $200,000 or more above what the holder of a bachelor’s degree will make over a lifetime, to have the investment break even.”
Above the Law’s snarky reaction: “people who have college degrees, three years of extra earning potential, and make $200,000 less over the course of their lives are just as well off as many lawyers—only they don’t have to practice law for a living.”
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Read the full article: Law Grads in Record Amount of Debt
