Paying for Law School
It can be expensive to attend law school,
costing $25,000 to $30,000 per year for three
years. Unless you attend a law program at night
designed for re-entering professionals, you will
not be able to work while attending. Most
students take out loans, which, of course, they
must eventually repay. If you take out $90,000 in
loans, it will cost you over $800 a month for 15
years in order to repay the loan. That's not a
problem if you are going to earn a reasonable
salary. Some lawyers demand handsome salaries.
Other don't make much at all. A graduate from a
Tier One law program who works for a corporate
firm can start at over $100,000 a year (and work
very long days as well). On the other hand, a
public defender in Orange County will start under
$40,000 a year (and also work very long days).
So should you spend the money or not?
It depends. Think of it as an investment
and then ask yourself whether this is a good investment
or a poor one. Here's what you should consider:
- What is the likelihood that I will
graduate from this law program and pass
the bar? Facts and figures about past
graduates are readily available (check
out the books in the Department's Career
Lending Library). Law schools report both
the characteristics of students as they
enter (GPA and LSAT score), the
percentage that graduate, and the
percentage that pass the bar. For some
programs, you can be virtually assured
that if you are admitted, you are almost
certain to graduate and pass the bar--if
you stay committed. On the other hand, if
you can only be admitted to a program
with a much lower percentage of students
that pass the bar, you may want to
seriously question what your long-term
prospects are.
- How committed are you to law as a
profession? If you are not confident
that you want to be a lawyer, then don't.
It's a lot of money that could have been
spent on something more fruitful. Try an
internship or work-related experience
first. On the other hand, if you're
confident this is what you want to do,
barge ahead.
- What kind of salary do you expect to
earn? Facts and figures about
salaries are also readily available. If
you know what field your interested in,
you can make an educated decision about
your possible future earnings.
For the mathematically inclined...
{[percentage chance you'll
graduate and pass the bar] X [amount of
personal satisfaction you expect] X [expected
life earnings]} minus [cost of the education]
= [an educated guess]
Top of Page
|
