How to Choose a Law School: Assessing the Price

I’ve already discussed getting into law school and how to use the rankings. So you’ve probably narrowed down your options to a reasonable number of schools to which you might apply. You’ve made some applications, and are preparing others. Soon, you will begin to learn where you are accepted. And this is where the rubber meets the road.

One of the most important factors in determining where to go to law school is what it will cost. But this is more complicated than looking at a law school’s published tuition. There are many factors that go into figuring out what your legal education will cost you, and whether the price is worth it.

Everybody knows that law students at the same school pay different prices. This is because of the increasing tendency of law schools to compete for top students with generous financial aid packages. Many good schools provide some form of merit aid to close to half their classes. The aggregate amount of financial aid as a proportion of student tuition revenue is called the discount rate. Let’s take as an example a law school that charges $45,000 a year in published tuition. With a discount rate of 22%, that means that average tuition is really $35,000. Some schools publicize their discount rates, especially if they are high.

But averages mean nothing to you. What matters is your own financial aid package. Even here, things are not always as they seem. Say that the University of X offers you $35,000, and the University of Y offers you $25,000. All else equal, the decision is easy, yes? No, it isn’t. Many law schools will only allow you to retain your financial aid offer after your first year if you maintain a stated GPA or better. So if U of X is one of these, you have to be careful. Most applicants have an overconfidence bias. You’ve done well in college, so you think that maintaining that GPA won’t be a problem.

But it might. Law school classes are graded on the basis of one exam. Excuses and make-ups are hard to come by. So if you have a bad day, or you’re sick, or you’ve just gotten bad news, or even slept badly, you might do poorly no matter how well you’ve prepared yourself, and that’s your grade for the semester. More important, most law schools grade on a curve. Thus there is a predetermined proportion of grades that will be on the low end of the curve. If your class is especially smart, or you’ve had a bad day, it won’t be that hard to find yourself on the low end of the curve in any given course, and in an a typical first year schedule that could be one-quarter of your grade. Two or three of those, and you can find yourself losing your financial aid for the next two years. The problem is, there is no really good advance way of determining how likely you are to be at the top or bottom of the curve. U of X’s financial aid offer, while seemingly more generous than U of Y’s, poses a significant and potentially costly risk.

U of Y, on the other hand, has offered you $10,000 a year less than U of X. But U of Y guarantees that if you remain a student in good standing (that is, if you don’t flunk out) you will retain your financial aid for all three years, regardless of your law school performance. This eliminates the risk that you will underperform your expectations, and allows you to do your best, comfortable in the knowledge that the money promised to you will be there. We, at Case Western Reserve, have adopted the policy of U of Y. Your financial aid is safe.

What if you don’t receive a financial aid package from the law school of your choice, but do get financial aid from a less-desirable school? First, some schools do make available financial aid in the second year for students who outperform expectations (as we at Case Western Reserve do). Second, you need to think about the career options you’re going to have going to one law school over another. (You need to do this, of course, even if you receive financial aid.)

So U of X gives you money. But U of X is a local or regional school, and the vast majority of X’s alumni practice within its state or a two or three state radius. Great, if this what you want to do. But unless that region provides lots of good, well-paying jobs, you’re going to have some trouble paying off the debt you’ll still have to take on to go to law school. U of Y may give you no money. But it may have an alumni base that practices around the United States, and maybe the world. True, you’ll incur more debt, and that is frightening when a bad economy makes finding your first job difficult. But your first job is just that – a first job. If you think about the cost of law school over the course of a career that may take you places and give you opportunities you haven’t even dreamed of, that investment in a forty or fifty year career looks a lot more reasonable. So, as I noted in my last posting, you have to be careful about assessing the opportunities a school provides as well as its cost.

One last factor I’ll mention is cost of living. Obviously, you ‘ll need a place to live and food to eat. But, while you’ll be busy in law school, you won’t want to give up your entire life. You’ll still want to be able to go to ball games, concerts, the theater, bars and restaurants, and maybe travel a little. There are some cities in which the cost of doing these things (not to mention rent and the cost of food) are very high. Others, which might provide a lot of the same amenities, do so at far lower cost, and far lower housing costs. Factor these into your decision as to where to go. The cost of living in the city of your chosen law school could make a significant difference in how much you enjoy your time there.

This is probably enough to think about for now. When choosing your law school, look beyond the sticker price and the appearance of your financial aid package to study the fine print and all of the other factors I’ve discussed. It could make a real difference in your life.