Summary: Many law schools have begun offering significant discounts on tuition to counter the declining number of law school applicants.
The number of students pursuing a law degree has declined to its lowest point in roughly the past thirty years. To attempt to attract new students, many schools have begun offering significant grants to prospective applicants. Therefore, though tuition may be rising in some parts of the country, many students will pay under the advertised tuition price for a law degree.
Here is a directory of tuition and fees at the top 50 law schools in the United States.
According to Bloomberg, PreLaw magazine recently examined American Bar Association data on the number and amount of scholarships at law schools, and provided an estimate as to which private schools offer the biggest tuition discounts. For the 2013-2014 school year, the number of first year students who received the most money were examined, in addition to students that received grants.
Liberty University School of Law, which has an evangelical Christian curriculum, gave its students an average tuition discount of 57 percent. Most students, therefore, would have paid around $18,238 for their first year of study. The average annual tuition at private law schools is roughly $42,000.
Law school tuition has especially risen at the top schools.
The results demonstrated that Brooklyn Law School appears to pay the most money per enrolled student. In April, the school stated that it would provide substantial grants and an additional discount of 15 percent from the tuition price.
Over the past ten years, tuition at private law schools has jumped by nearly 60 percent. According to the New York Times, tuition has continued to rise although there are roughly two graduates for every law job available on the market.
Last year, it seemed that Philadelphia schools had the lowest tuition in the country.
Other private schools that offered significant discounts include Ohio Northern University (48.5 percent), Chapman Fowler School of Law (47.8 percent), and the University of St. Thomas (46.6 percent).
Source: Bloomberg
Photo credit: Bloomberg