With Annual Costs Over $100K, These Expensive Law Schools Are Helping Students Rack Up Debt

// We all know that a legal education can land the average law school graduate in up to six figures of debt (to be specific, on average, 2023 graduates racked up just over $111,000 in student debt), and we all know that egregiously high tuition costs are to blame. According to the latest data from U.S. News, the average cost of tuition and fees at private schools for the 2022-2023 academic year was about $52,325, while the average in-state and out-of-state cost of tuition and fees at public schools was $26,917 and $40,056, respectively.

But which schools were the most costly for the 2022-2023 academic year?

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Professor Derek Muller of Notre Dame Law recently dug into the details in an eye-popping Twitter thread on the high costs of law school tuition and yearly attendance.

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At least 17 law schools have crossed $70,000 for one year's JD tuition.

Columbia $78,444
Cornell $77,508
NYU $76,878
Chicago $76,479
USC $76,438
Georgetown $75,950
UVA $74,200
Duke $74,100
Northwestern $73,754
Harvard $73,600
Michigan $72,584
Berkeley $71,731

1/2

— Derek T. Muller (@derektmuller) July 7, 2023

At least 19 schools have crossed $100,000 in nine-month JD (self-estimated) cost of attendance:
Columbia $118,357
Berkeley $117,815
NYU $114,024
Stanford $112,633
Chicago $112,542
Harvard $111,000
Georgetown $108,200
Northwestern $107,463
Penn $105,932
Vanderbilt $105,528

3/2

— Derek T. Muller (@derektmuller) July 7, 2023

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All schools calculated with out-of-state, away-from-relatives residency. Costs are lower for in-state public tuition or living at home.

5/2 (ooooops)

— Derek T. Muller (@derektmuller) July 7, 2023

Wow. No wonder the average law student is carrying so much debt. Critical responses to the law school costs Muller listed included but were not limited to “insane and unsustainable,” “ridiculous,” “disgusting,” “discouraging,” and “not worth it.” These irresponsibly high tuition costs are driving the total cost of attendance at some of these law schools sky high. Graduates of at least 19 of the law schools listed by Muller may be starting their careers with more than a quarter of a million dollars of student debt thanks to their schools’ high costs.

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On the flip side of the coin, while the costs listed may be quite steep, it’s worth noting that the law schools that made this list are among the best in the country. At highly ranked schools like these, you get what you pay for, and in the law school world, that usually means a high-paying job as an attorney that will allow you to service your enormous debt obligations in a timely fashion — and to be quite frank, with up to six figures of debt to pay off, that’s priceless.

No matter where you decide to go to law school, make sure that you evaluate what your payoff will be when graduation time rolls around. Given the information that’s readily available online, will you be able to find a job? Will you be able to make ends meet while making payments on your law school loans? If you don’t think the answer to these questions are “yes,” then you may want to consider another school.

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Staci Zaretsky is a senior editor at Above the Law, where she’s worked since 2011. She’d love to hear from you, so please feel free to email her with any tips, questions, comments, or critiques. You can follow her on Twitter or connect with her on LinkedIn.

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Law School Tuition, Law Schools, Money, Rankings, Student Loans