I have two questions I would very much like to be answered.

Graduate School Law School
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<p>1) Why is it that law degrees are only offered as graduate degrees? It seems like an arbitrary decision to me.</p>

<p>2) What justifies the high tuition prices law schools demand? There isnt any specialized technology, or labs, or studios that are generally required to study law. It leads me to the conclusion that they charge such outstanding prices because of the fallacious public perception that lawyers earn 80k to 6 figures.</p>

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<ol>
<li><p>It’s an American thing. Most (well some, I’m not sure exactly which ones) other countries have it so that you declare law as a focus right away. The argument I guess would be an undergrad degree could allow a student to develop intellectually and emotionally before deciding if law is the path he/she wants to take. It is arbitrary though. Initially, law was seen as a prestigious field that only the best and brightest would pursue. Not the case anymore obviously.</p></li>
<li><p>Well supply and demand is one thing. At top schools, you are essentially paying for a name brand. At lower schools, it is less clear why the charges would be so much, but if people are willing to pay, then that is enough justification.</p></li>
</ol>

<p>And what fallacious public perception is it that lawyers earn 80k to 6 figures? A lot do. Is it every lawyer like some people thing? Absolutely not. But a T14 graduate who is in the top quarter (it can vary by school) of his/her class has a very good chance to start at 160K/year.</p>

<p>At the top schools, the tuition might be steep, but the facilities are top-of-the-line and there are fantastic public interest programs. Look into loan forgiveness. UVA’s for example <a href=“http://www.law.virginia.edu/pdf/admissions/finaid/vlfp2.pdf[/url]”>http://www.law.virginia.edu/pdf/admissions/finaid/vlfp2.pdf&lt;/a&gt; It will make you a lot less cynical that law schools are entirely profit motivated. But the reason these schools can afford loan forgiveness programs is because the alumni are successful enough to donate heavily to their law school. </p>

<p>As for some of the less prestigious law schools, most reasonable individuals would agree they are a terrible investment if not attended on significant (close to full) scholarship. But alas, everyone in America thinks they are entitled to follow their dreams, even if woefully underqualified. That is how a for-profit law school like Florida Coastal, John Marshall, Phoenix LS, and Charlotte can succeed. It’s shameful the ABA approves these schools. But most schools are not-for-profit, although that doesn’t mean the admins aren’t looking out for their pocket books.</p>

<p>There’s a lot to it. More than one post, or ten posts can explain. But do your research. There is another message board devoted entirely to Law schools that has virtually anything you want to know.</p>

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<p>

As stated above, it’s just the way things are done in the US. </p>

<p>It’s similar with medicine. In the US medical school is a post-undergrad thing but in most other parts of the world it’s something one would do as an undergraduate degree right out of high school (although typically a longer program than other undergrad degrees). </p>

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<p>The same thing that justifies someone putting tap water in a bottle and then selling it at a huge markup… people are willing to pay for it (or in the case of law school, willing to go into significant debt to pay for it). </p>

<p>Most universities view their law (and business) schools as profit centers. Yes, most universities are non-profits but that doesn’t mean they can’t move money around within the university from one area to another. </p>

<p>If you take on 5 extra science grad students it’s very expensive to educate them (you need more lab space, equipment, etc.) To take on 5 more law students costs almost nothing (5 more chairs in your lecture halls and some extra paper perhaps)… so they pack-em in and charge as much as they can. It’s the closest thing to ‘free money’ a university can get.</p>

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<p>Yeah, the other posters have pretty much hit on it – law schools are cash cows for universities. My boyfriend is a lawyer, and after graduating from a T14 school and getting a job at a “big” firm, he’s still convinced that law school should only be about a year long. The extra two years are filled up with classes which have little/no relevance to the actual practice of law, and basically serve to earn the universities more $$.</p>

<p>Law schools is waaay more profitable that most other grad programs for a few reasons:

  1. Most classes are lectures, so as rocketman said, they can just stick a few more people in a classroom, with the same number of profs, and it’s basically free money.<br>
  2. Medical schools are actually really really expensive to run. I read somewhere that the tuition med students pay actually doesn’t cover the full cost of educating them, which is why a lot of universities have teaching hospitals too – it’s more $$ to help cover the cost of the med school. I would guess that this same issue applies to nursing schools. Plus, the AMA is cranky about letting universities open up new med schools, whereas the ABA barely regulates law schools at all.<br>
  3. PhD students usually get funded by grants, so they also end up costing the university money instead of making it for them.
  4. The PhD/Med school thing means that the universities want to make extra money somehow, and they do that through law schools and terminal masters programs.</p>

<p>So basically, law schools are expensive and only exist at the graduate level because in the end, it earns universities more money. Thomas Cooley law school graduates like, 1000+ students a year, each of whom pays them over $100k. That earns them a hell of a lot of money with very little expense. </p>

<p>This is why lawyers and law school students here tell you not to bother with law school unless (1) you get accepted to a T14 or (2) you get a full or nearly full ride. Otherwise you’ll find yourself unemployable and mired in 200k of debt.</p>

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<p>Also, law school offers prestige, which comes with a price. An university’s law school is usually the program (grad and undergrad) with the highest status (along with medical and business schools), which gives its students certain privileges. For instance, at YLS, students only have to take fewer than 10 required classes at the law school, and they can take other classes at the business school, the medical school, and from other grad programs, etc. At HLS, students can take classes at the college and from other graduate programs and professional schools.</p>

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<p>There are five courses which YLS requires specifically (Torts, CivPro, ConLaw, Contracts, Crim). Of the 83 total credits required to receive a YLS JD, 12 may be taken outside of the law school.</p>

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<p>On the other hand, a LS could pull down the prestige of a school. Take GULC, for example.</p>

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<p>^Why do you think Georgetown’s law school pulls down their overall prestige? GULC is considered T14 and while a lot of their other programs are also very well regarded, most wouldn’t be considered top 10 (thinking of their undergrad, medical school, and business school).</p>

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<ol>
<li>Class size is way too large.</li>
<li>Part-Time program (this is pretty TTT)</li>
<li>Class size is ridiculous. </li>
<li>DC market is tough to break into (the boutique lit firms are taking up YLS/SLS grads with 2/9/DC and corp law just isn’t that big)</li>
<li>Sheer volume of the class. No way are there enough firms to absorb 700+ kids a yr. Its way better to be median at MVP than median at GULC. </li>
</ol>

<p>FWIW, GULC has good layman prestige. </p>

<p>Your argument makes more sense for a school like NYU, where UG isn’t that solid…but law school is up there with Columbia.</p>

<p>And you can’t really compare it to UG since many top schools don’t have a LS (Princeton, MIT, etc.)</p>