The Washington Post U.S. school debt calculator: “You are taking a risk by following a law career”

2 November 2014 – The Washington Post published a student loan calculator to assist students out there in figuring out exactly how much they will suffer for their education. And the answer for lawyers is “much more than they can afford.” It suggests that many students will be taking a risk by following this career path.

Someone who goes to New York University (NYU) would need to earn US$214,361 a year for a decade to be able to afford to repay the $171,087 of debts they would have, according to the calculator. In BigLaw firms, associates could expect to arrive at that payment level (including bonuses). Another candidate who chose to go to a cheaper school, would have a debt of $88,917 if they had opted for state tuition in Ohio state. But employment options are rated at just 59.1% at Ohio, compared to 93.7% at NYU.

In its note on the Washington Post article Above the Law concludes that “law school is rarely justified based on the cold light of day seen through the calculator”.

For the Washington Post calculator click here.

For the Above the Law analysis applied to law school click here.