Most law schools have become more affordable in the last three years
It seems like a crazy headline, but it turns out that the decline in supply of prospective law students has yielded the expected decline in cost at most law schools over the last three years.
A few years ago, I noted that 30 law schools had become more affordable over a three-year period. I thought I'd see what might have changed since then.
And before sharing the numbers, It's worth cautioning that these numbers have extremely limited value. The U.S. News & World Report ("USNWR") debt rankings include a number of very obvious faults, including a number of schools reporting more than 100% of graduates who obtained debt:
The embarrassing data collection of USNWR calls into question not just these figures but the totality of the rankings. But let's stick with what we've got for the moment.
I removed all schools that failed to disclose debt figures in either the 2015 rankings or the 2018 rankings. I removed the schools that had reported more than 100% of graduates who took on debt. I also removed the three schools in Puerto Rico. That brought the data set down to 163 schools.
Many schools are unable to read the USNWR forms correctly and only report some of the debt one year and the cumulative debt another year; I don't attempt to determine which schools made that error, but the schools with triple-digit percentage increases in debt loads over three years would probably fall into that category.
I calculated 3.0% inflation between 2013 (the class whose debt load is included in the 2015 rankings) and 2016 (the class whose debt load is included in the 2018 rankings) and adjusted the 2013 figures accordingly. The debt figures listed on the site are an average for those who incurred debt; to arrive at a more accurate picture of the debt load of the class as a whole, I then factored in the percentage of students who graduated without any debt to reach an overall average.
Among the 163 schools, 115 saw a decline in overall debt loads; just 48 saw an inflation-adjusted increase.
Many possible reasons for the changes are possible. As I explained in 2013, students may graduate without debt for many reasons: "That could be because they are independently wealthy or come from a wealthy family willing to finance the education; they could have substantial scholarship assistance; they could earn income during school or during the summers; they could live in a low cost-of-living area, or live frugally; or some combination of these and other factors. It's worth noting that several thousand students graduate each year without any debt."
Scholarship awards may be outpacing tuition hikes. Students are no longer purchasing health care due to the ability to remain on their parents' health insurance under federal law, a significant cost for students a few years ago. Schools have increasingly eased, or abolished, stipulations on scholarships, which means students graduate with less debt. Some schools have slashed tuition prices. We might simply be experiencing the decline of economically poorer law students, resulting in more students who need smaller student loans--or none at all. Students may be taking advantage of accelerated programs that allow them to graduate faster with less debt. Finally, as JD class sizes shrink, it's increasingly apparent that students who would have paid the "sticker" price as increasingly pursuing options at institutions that offer them tuition discounts. (I'll have something more about financial aid figures in the near future.)
Additionally, as I've noted before, the "percentage may be somewhat deceptive, because at a very low-cost school, a modest increase in debt load may appear, on a percentage basis, much higher than comparable increase at a high-cost school. A $10,000 increase in debt at a school that previously had just $20,000 in debt looks like 50%; at a school with $100,000 in debt, just 10%. But I thought percentage would still be the most useful."
And of course, these debt figures are only an average; they do not include undergraduate debt, credit card debt, or interest accrued on law school loans while in school. And, as I've written, "The averages are not precise, either, for individuals. The average may be artificially high if a few students took out extremely high debt loads that distorted the average, or artificially low if a few students took out nominal debt loads that distorted the average."
It's worth noting that some of these changes are hardly random. Major announcements from institutions like Iowa, Arizona, and Chicago back in 2013 signaled major changes in tuition or scholarship structures.
Finally--and while it should go without saying, I fear I need to say it anyway--this is hardly a statement about whether any particular law school is a "good" value or whether the debt loads are appropriate. It's simply a relative comparison of debt loads over three years.
| Inflation-Adjusted Average Law School Debt Incurred by All Law Students Between 2013 & 2016 | ||||
| School | 2013 | 2016 | Dollar diff | Pct diff |
| University of Iowa | $87,669 | $51,890 | -$35,780 | -40.8% |
| University of Chicago | $134,795 | $83,609 | -$51,186 | -38.0% |
| Washington University in St. Louis | $84,863 | $54,352 | -$30,511 | -36.0% |
| University of New Hampshire School of Law | $115,056 | $74,969 | -$40,087 | -34.8% |
| Seton Hall University | $109,285 | $71,692 | -$37,592 | -34.4% |
| North Carolina Central University | $81,333 | $55,012 | -$26,321 | -32.4% |
| University of Arizona (Rogers) | $76,545 | $52,534 | -$24,010 | -31.4% |
| University of Kentucky | $59,654 | $41,857 | -$17,797 | -29.8% |
| George Mason University | $104,601 | $74,427 | -$30,175 | -28.8% |
| University of San Diego | $115,809 | $85,818 | -$29,991 | -25.9% |
| University of St. Thomas | $99,886 | $74,177 | -$25,709 | -25.7% |
| University of Massachusetts--Dartmouth | $110,454 | $82,275 | -$28,179 | -25.5% |
| The Catholic University of America | $128,016 | $96,071 | -$31,945 | -25.0% |
| Northeastern University | $115,860 | $87,079 | -$28,781 | -24.8% |
| Liberty University | $74,403 | $56,029 | -$18,373 | -24.7% |
| University of Idaho | $78,515 | $59,140 | -$19,375 | -24.7% |
| Villanova University | $93,686 | $70,818 | -$22,867 | -24.4% |
| Wake Forest University | $104,101 | $79,389 | -$24,712 | -23.7% |
| Indiana University--Bloomington (Maurer) | $96,491 | $73,744 | -$22,747 | -23.6% |
| University of Nebraska--Lincoln | $59,015 | $45,301 | -$13,714 | -23.2% |
| Ohio State University (Moritz) | $87,593 | $67,697 | -$19,895 | -22.7% |
| Florida Coastal School of Law | $141,667 | $111,048 | -$30,619 | -21.6% |
| Boston University | $88,279 | $69,681 | -$18,598 | -21.1% |
| University of Nevada--Las Vegas | $90,288 | $71,342 | -$18,946 | -21.0% |
| University of North Dakota | $57,763 | $45,785 | -$11,978 | -20.7% |
| University of Southern California (Gould) | $121,836 | $97,114 | -$24,722 | -20.3% |
| University of Toledo | $90,339 | $72,023 | -$18,316 | -20.3% |
| University of Minnesota--Twin Cities | $91,079 | $73,256 | -$17,824 | -19.6% |
| University of California--Irvine | $96,855 | $78,284 | -$18,571 | -19.2% |
| Syracuse University | $116,006 | $93,843 | -$22,163 | -19.1% |
| Georgia State University | $60,752 | $49,160 | -$11,592 | -19.1% |
| Samford University (Cumberland) | $125,495 | $101,585 | -$23,910 | -19.1% |
| Northwestern University | $124,857 | $101,200 | -$23,658 | -18.9% |
| Case Western Reserve University | $90,292 | $73,417 | -$16,875 | -18.7% |
| Charleston School of Law | $134,372 | $109,876 | -$24,496 | -18.2% |
| University of Detroit Mercy | $103,572 | $85,370 | -$18,202 | -17.6% |
| University of Wisconsin--Madison | $67,065 | $55,337 | -$11,729 | -17.5% |
| Washington and Lee University | $102,537 | $85,021 | -$17,516 | -17.1% |
| Temple University (Beasley) | $78,069 | $64,988 | -$13,082 | -16.8% |
| Brigham Young University (Clark) | $48,309 | $40,246 | -$8,063 | -16.7% |
| American University (Washington) | $143,815 | $119,881 | -$23,933 | -16.6% |
| University of Connecticut | $59,395 | $49,618 | -$9,777 | -16.5% |
| Fordham University | $106,142 | $88,759 | -$17,383 | -16.4% |
| University of Colorado--Boulder | $91,541 | $76,597 | -$14,944 | -16.3% |
| Stetson University | $122,032 | $102,875 | -$19,157 | -15.7% |
| Emory University | $104,926 | $88,590 | -$16,336 | -15.6% |
| University of Miami | $120,596 | $102,344 | -$18,252 | -15.1% |
| Wayne State University | $71,209 | $60,524 | -$10,686 | -15.0% |
| Drexel University (Kline) | $95,292 | $81,319 | -$13,974 | -14.7% |
| Gonzaga University | $101,819 | $87,166 | -$14,654 | -14.4% |
| University of Missouri | $74,941 | $64,384 | -$10,557 | -14.1% |
| University of Florida (Levin) | $67,802 | $58,732 | -$9,071 | -13.4% |
| University of Maine | $80,478 | $69,864 | -$10,614 | -13.2% |
| University of Houston | $72,802 | $63,210 | -$9,592 | -13.2% |
| Oklahoma City University | $95,186 | $82,802 | -$12,384 | -13.0% |
| Yeshiva University (Cardozo) | $87,532 | $76,248 | -$11,284 | -12.9% |
| Creighton University | $120,432 | $104,923 | -$15,509 | -12.9% |
| University of California--Berkeley | $119,993 | $104,570 | -$15,424 | -12.9% |
| New York University | $121,522 | $106,810 | -$14,713 | -12.1% |
| University of California--Los Angeles | $99,152 | $87,221 | -$11,931 | -12.0% |
| University of Richmond | $99,634 | $87,658 | -$11,976 | -12.0% |
| Albany Law School | $94,539 | $83,760 | -$10,779 | -11.4% |
| University of Dayton | $104,519 | $92,813 | -$11,706 | -11.2% |
| Washburn University | $70,625 | $62,777 | -$7,849 | -11.1% |
| University of Pittsburgh | $94,198 | $83,786 | -$10,412 | -11.1% |
| Boston College | $84,593 | $75,300 | -$9,293 | -11.0% |
| Loyola Marymount University | $120,118 | $106,990 | -$13,128 | -10.9% |
| Illinois Institute of Technology (Chicago-Kent) | $93,842 | $83,658 | -$10,184 | -10.9% |
| Western State College of Law at Argosy University | $106,909 | $95,768 | -$11,141 | -10.4% |
| California Western School of Law | $145,771 | $131,115 | -$14,656 | -10.1% |
| New York Law School | $142,206 | $128,024 | -$14,182 | -10.0% |
| Yale University | $92,597 | $83,410 | -$9,186 | -9.9% |
| George Washington University | $96,784 | $87,667 | -$9,117 | -9.4% |
| University of Baltimore | $97,943 | $88,914 | -$9,029 | -9.2% |
| University of California--Davis | $80,310 | $72,969 | -$7,341 | -9.1% |
| DePaul University | $115,365 | $104,923 | -$10,441 | -9.1% |
| University of Mississippi | $55,440 | $50,512 | -$4,928 | -8.9% |
| St. Louis University | $106,066 | $96,677 | -$9,388 | -8.9% |
| CUNY | $66,173 | $60,402 | -$5,770 | -8.7% |
| University of North Carolina--Chapel Hill | $77,793 | $71,316 | -$6,476 | -8.3% |
| Roger Williams University | $118,650 | $109,387 | -$9,263 | -7.8% |
| Brooklyn Law School | $85,974 | $79,447 | -$6,528 | -7.6% |
| Chapman University (Fowler) | $117,418 | $108,764 | -$8,654 | -7.4% |
| Columbia University | $109,443 | $101,447 | -$7,996 | -7.3% |
| Florida International University | $88,654 | $82,185 | -$6,469 | -7.3% |
| University of Virginia | $112,565 | $104,392 | -$8,173 | -7.3% |
| St. John's University | $96,421 | $89,625 | -$6,796 | -7.0% |
| Regent University | $113,814 | $105,870 | -$7,944 | -7.0% |
| Florida State University | $73,251 | $68,255 | -$4,996 | -6.8% |
| Ohio Northern University (Pettit) | $99,625 | $93,010 | -$6,615 | -6.6% |
| Ave Maria School of Law | $114,724 | $107,426 | -$7,298 | -6.4% |
| Arizona State University (O'Connor) | $83,282 | $78,224 | -$5,058 | -6.1% |
| Michigan State University | $75,946 | $71,335 | -$4,610 | -6.1% |
| University of Memphis (Humphreys) | $61,945 | $58,518 | -$3,428 | -5.5% |
| University of the Pacific (McGeorge) | $134,118 | $126,767 | -$7,351 | -5.5% |
| Louisiana State University--Baton Rouge (Hebert) | $67,490 | $63,872 | -$3,619 | -5.4% |
| Tulane University | $104,968 | $99,548 | -$5,420 | -5.2% |
| University of Montana | $70,292 | $66,762 | -$3,530 | -5.0% |
| University of Illinois--Urbana-Champaign | $75,125 | $71,530 | -$3,594 | -4.8% |
| Quinnipiac University | $90,272 | $86,699 | -$3,573 | -4.0% |
| Thomas Jefferson School of Law | $171,394 | $165,039 | -$6,356 | -3.7% |
| University of Missouri--Kansas City | $88,788 | $85,705 | -$3,082 | -3.5% |
| University of Akron | $73,126 | $70,601 | -$2,525 | -3.5% |
| Vanderbilt University | $84,664 | $81,922 | -$2,742 | -3.2% |
| Texas A&M University | $96,410 | $93,556 | -$2,854 | -3.0% |
| Suffolk University | $103,229 | $100,223 | -$3,006 | -2.9% |
| Mississippi College | $99,442 | $97,285 | -$2,157 | -2.2% |
| Seattle University | $119,276 | $116,749 | -$2,527 | -2.1% |
| Pepperdine University | $120,639 | $118,630 | -$2,009 | -1.7% |
| University of Georgia | $65,799 | $65,178 | -$621 | -0.9% |
| Mercer University (George) | $115,767 | $114,800 | -$967 | -0.8% |
| Golden Gate University | $142,731 | $141,583 | -$1,149 | -0.8% |
| Hofstra University (Deane) | $110,562 | $109,929 | -$633 | -0.6% |
| Lewis & Clark College (Northwestern) | $108,995 | $108,596 | -$399 | -0.4% |
| University of Utah (Quinney) | $76,501 | $76,404 | -$97 | -0.1% |
| University of Maryland (Carey) | $83,258 | $83,439 | $182 | 0.2% |
| University of San Francisco | $134,845 | $136,532 | $1,687 | 1.3% |
| Drake University | $97,706 | $99,304 | $1,598 | 1.6% |
| Georgetown University | $120,788 | $123,165 | $2,376 | 2.0% |
| Southern Methodist University (Dedman) | $83,491 | $85,193 | $1,702 | 2.0% |
| University of Texas--Austin | $67,567 | $69,040 | $1,473 | 2.2% |
| University of South Carolina | $70,531 | $72,251 | $1,721 | 2.4% |
| University of Alabama | $50,428 | $51,765 | $1,337 | 2.7% |
| University of South Dakota | $52,915 | $54,473 | $1,558 | 2.9% |
| University of Kansas | $65,458 | $67,625 | $2,167 | 3.3% |
| University of Oklahoma | $60,954 | $63,012 | $2,058 | 3.4% |
| University of Louisville (Brandeis) | $76,274 | $79,341 | $3,067 | 4.0% |
| West Virginia University | $61,954 | $64,551 | $2,597 | 4.2% |
| Northern Illinois University | $70,109 | $73,074 | $2,965 | 4.2% |
| University of Washington | $82,201 | $86,673 | $4,472 | 5.4% |
| University of California (Hastings) | $107,817 | $113,918 | $6,101 | 5.7% |
| University of Cincinnati | $60,144 | $63,782 | $3,638 | 6.0% |
| Southern University Law Center | $79,135 | $84,049 | $4,914 | 6.2% |
| St. Mary's University | $102,398 | $108,783 | $6,385 | 6.2% |
| Valparaiso University | $120,524 | $129,422 | $8,898 | 7.4% |
| Duquesne University | $85,985 | $92,676 | $6,692 | 7.8% |
| University of Arkansas--Fayetteville | $50,464 | $54,728 | $4,264 | 8.4% |
| Whittier College | $146,796 | $159,920 | $13,124 | 8.9% |
| Willamette University (Collins) | $113,222 | $123,472 | $10,250 | 9.1% |
| Texas Tech University | $61,998 | $67,766 | $5,768 | 9.3% |
| Indiana University--Indianapolis (McKinney) | $87,785 | $96,023 | $8,238 | 9.4% |
| Stanford University | $93,803 | $103,031 | $9,228 | 9.8% |
| University of Michigan--Ann Arbor | $95,992 | $106,163 | $10,171 | 10.6% |
| University of Pennsylvania | $100,435 | $111,165 | $10,730 | 10.7% |
| Nova Southeastern University (Broad) | $115,989 | $128,617 | $12,628 | 10.9% |
| Marquette University | $110,158 | $122,443 | $12,285 | 11.2% |
| University of Denver (Sturm) | $109,551 | $121,955 | $12,403 | 11.3% |
| University of Notre Dame | $82,649 | $93,122 | $10,473 | 12.7% |
| University of Wyoming | $63,254 | $72,723 | $9,470 | 15.0% |
| University of Tennessee--Knoxville | $55,743 | $64,661 | $8,918 | 16.0% |
| Harvard University | $100,937 | $117,568 | $16,632 | 16.5% |
| Pace University | $84,579 | $100,326 | $15,747 | 18.6% |
| University of Arkansas--Little Rock (Bowen) | $42,867 | $52,131 | $9,265 | 21.6% |
| SUNY Buffalo Law School | $60,841 | $74,481 | $13,640 | 22.4% |
| University of Tulsa | $72,600 | $89,046 | $16,447 | 22.7% |
| University of New Mexico | $53,638 | $66,617 | $12,979 | 24.2% |
| Southern Illinois University--Carbondale | $57,523 | $73,403 | $15,879 | 27.6% |
| Duke University | $77,184 | $98,715 | $21,531 | 27.9% |
| Elon University | $99,653 | $134,811 | $35,157 | 35.3% |
| Baylor University | $77,304 | $106,693 | $29,389 | 38.0% |
| The John Marshall Law School | $91,830 | $132,586 | $40,755 | 44.4% |
| University of the District of Columbia (Clarke) | $33,454 | $90,116 | $56,662 | 169.4% |
| Barry University | $43,354 | $141,667 | $98,312 | 226.8% |