Why is law school so expensive?

Reasons please.

 

Chicken and egg. Law schools charge a lot of money because they can. Lawyers - same thing. People think if they go to law school, they will become lawyers, charge a lot of money and get their school debt paid --- and then some... a good life. And so it goes... Some get their dream. A lot are already beaten, coming out of the gate. Crowded horses make a dangerous track.

To the tune of "Streets of Laredo"

I see by your J.D. that you are a lawyer.
If I earn a J.D., then I'll be one too.
Let's all earn J.D.'s and then we'll be lawyers.
If you earn a J.D., then you'll be one too. "

Whoops! the ABA heard me! Now they'll do something to increase law school prices --- again, to "limit entry."
Won't stop the lemmings. Only a piper can do that.

 

Supply and demand. Also, law school professors have some of the highest salaries. It's hard to attract good talent to academia when industry pays a lot more.

 

When I received my JD from the University of New Mexico in 1986, my total tuition for all three years together was around $3,000. Nowadays, total in state tuition runs around $50,000. That's still a very good deal by current standards but it's still a lot of money.

One cause is the reduction of state funding for professional education. Basically, the Legislature has decided that, since the law degree largely benefits the graduate the graduate should pay most of the cost.

The fallacy behind this reasoning is that the law degree does not benefit only the recipient. Society as a whole and the state itself must have lawyers to function. I was able to accept low paid state jobs earlier in my career because I did not have huge student loans to service.

 

Is it possible some people do not want society to function?

Serious question.

 

Sure. Look at the Freedom Caucus in the U.S. House. Smashing things is Chip Roy's admitted purpose in being there. He says so. But I don't think that's the main cause.

 

How about a little macroeconomics? Supply, meet demand.

But wait, what about all those lawyers serving lattes at Starbucks? First, it isn't true. Second, law schools (like any training or education program) sell a dream. And the dream lives.

Finally, mix in all that borrowed money chasing these degrees and you're bound to experience inflation.

 

Good point. Law school is actually FREE while you are in it. It's only once you're out in the world that the weight of student loan debt becomes real.

 

And the “macroeconomics” issue is part of the problem. The neo-liberal dupes who carried water for the Trilateral Commission following their “Crisis of Democracy” study, which claimed that the world was enjoying too much democracy.

You get the lawyers (who historically are an important “class” for civil society to function in a healthy way) on the hook in a neo-feudal indentured servitude status through high tuition and heavy loan debt. In so doing, you ensure they don’t “get out of line.”

Similarly, you strangle civic society in the crib by no longer teaching basic civics. Heck, you don’t even have to worry about lawyers protecting citizens and civil rights after a generation of that!

Ah - the hand that rocks the cradle is the hand that rules the world.

 

Professional wrestling
NASCAR
Soap operas
Reality TV
Faith healers
The Deep State
QAnon
Conspiracy theories

 

Professional wrestling
NASCAR
Faith healers
Reality TV
QAnon
The Deep State
Conspiracy theories

I'm sure there's more, but you get the idea.

 

My oldest son is graduate of Wittier Law school 2007 - 2010 and was admitted to Cal State Bar in 2011.
His BA was completely covered by the college as at the time his mom worked there and it was part of the benefits.
Law school was also covered but there was a limit so I remember paying for some of the tuition.
If I remember correctly in 2010 for students who paid full tuition for law school the cost was 60K per year and the cost of attendance for three years was closer to 180K.
Lucky for us we paid fraction of that, even when at the time he enrolled I think they were on notice by the ABA, the notice was fully removed a year or so before his graduation.
After passing the bar his first FT job as an Associate Attorney handling
Medicare Claims Appeals payed in lower 70K per year.
His second job as an Associate Attorney was already in 6 figures.

 

How nice for him.

 

Yes...in the nature of a well baited trap. More like "Would you like a piece of candy, little girl?" But if the child's parents have done their job well, the kid sees the flashing red warning lights and runs. Law students aren't so well prepared.

 

Isn't it the case that first professional programs are more expensive than other graduate programs at private universities? Private universities don't rely on state funding.

 

This is an angle I didn't think of. Similar to sports, the degree programs that bring in the most revenue subsidize other degree programs in lower-paying fields. State funding for higher education has been drastically cut across the board, so public colleges are deciding how they're going to allocate limited funding and which programs can survive higher tuition rates. If tuition rates were based on importance to society, medical school would be cheap.

Another good point made in this article is that law school is more expensive because it's longer. You're paying for an additional year in comparison to most other master's-level programs.

https://elawtalk.com/why-is-law-school-so-expensive/#:~:text=Law schools have to pay,for less financially successful programs.