Survival Strategies For Ordinary Law Schools

Top 5 Cheapest Law Schools (And 5 More Worth Attending)

Looking for the biggest bang for your law school buck? And you’re not afraid to move across the country to do it? According to Find Law’s Greedy Associates blog, there are four schools, ranked in U.S. News’ Top 80, where you can graduate with under $165,000 in debt. And that doesn’t count scholarships or tuition discounts.
Here’s how it works. Find Law recently visited the increasingly popular Law School Transparency  website, which collects and collates data on law school costs, employment outcomes, student loans, and scholarship money. Using a conservative model – which factored in rolling 3% increases in annual tuition and 2% increases in indirect costs (room and board, books, etc.), Law School Transparency was able to pinpoint the expected debt loads of students who’ll graduate in 2016. The model also uses non-resident, costs and factors in job placement of 60% or higher and school rankings.
So where are the best schools with the lowest debt? Here is Find Law’s data (with the U.S. News ranking alongside the debt amount):
5. Louisiana State University – $163,953 – #76
4. University of Arkansas-Fayetteville – $153,835 – #68
3. University of Nebraska – $152,691 – #61
2. Brigham Young University – $148,516 – #44
1. University of North Dakota – $134,807 – #140
Of course, you can also earn a degree for as low as $99,000… provided you’re not concerned about reputation or job placement.  Here are the schools with the five lowest projected debt loads for 2016 graduates:
5. University of North Dakota – $134,807
4. Texas Southern University – $133,143
3. Inter American University – $126,790
2. University of Puerto Rico – $100,138
1. Southern University Law School – $99,233
Source: Find Law / Greedy Associates