<p>Thanks for the graph. I know the debt is very high but worth it. How does aid in T14 Law schools, differ from undergraduate? I assume a lot seeing the staggering numbers of debt but I knew this going in but it would be a pleasant surprise if I can graduate from a T14 with less than 20-30k debt. I live in CA so Berkeley is an option but I know my future life is on the east coast, so I want to stray away from CA LS (Except maybe Stanford)</p>
<p>When it comes to grants, merit aid/scholarships, etc., T-14 schools tend to be far more generous than elite undergraduate schools. Outside of HYS, all the T-14 schools will give out significant amounts of merit aid if your numbers are high enough, but with elite undergrad schools, that's not really the case.</p>
<p>Need-based aid is a little harder to come by, though. Here, the situation is reversed. For instance, an undergrad who comes from a family with low income can have most, if not all, of his undergraduate tuition paid for at top schools. HYP all have very generous need-based aid programs, as do many other top universities and liberal arts colleges. Need-based grants in law school, however, while existent, are rarer. After all, law school is more of a "luxury" than is undergraduate education, so it's not as though these universities feel as compelled to help people out. I think this fact has a lot to do with why average law school grad debt is so high.</p>
<p>Thank guys for all of the help. </p>
<p>Does anyone have a link to the starting salaries right out of a T14 school? I am trying to show my father of the benefit of such an expensive graduate school. </p>
<p>What numbers are usually desirable to get merit aid from a T-14? Thanks again for all of the info</p>
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T-14 schools include both private and public law schools. There is absolutely no reason to believe that T-14 law school students would, on average, borrow more than other law school students to finance their education.
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<p>Sure there is. For one thing, nearly all of them are private, and the state schools (Berkeley, UVa, Mich) have in-state tuitions that are higher than most private schools. The article you posted cited an average private school tuition of about $27K, which was probably around $10K less than the average T14 school charged at that time. They're probably more concentrated in high-COL areas (four of them are in NYC, Boston or DC), which also increases the total cost of attending. $150K in debt from a T14 is not all that unusual.</p>