What Federal Loans Do for Law Students and Law Schools

Federal loans for law students are justified as “providing access” to a legal career for the middle class and poor.  That’s one side.  When you examine how the funding operates, however, it becomes apparent that federal loans are an irresistible (and life-sustaining) drug for revenue addicted law schools.

When a student applies for a federal loan, the law school processes the application.  Loans are granted by the government without any evaluation of the likelihood of repayment.  Accordingly, a student at Thomas Jefferson Law School is treated exactly the same as a student at Harvard Law School, without regard to the fact that the former is far less likely to repay the loan.

Among the 221 graduates of the 2010 class of Thomas Jefferson, only 73 obtained jobs as lawyers.   According to information provided by the school, the highest earners worked in private law firms, with a 75th percentile salary of $77,500 (only 12 of 55 graduates in private firms reported their salary).  Based upon the numbers provided, and making a few reasonable assumptions, we can estimate that at least 80% to 90% of the class earned less than $77,500. 

Now consider that the average debt of 2010 graduates of Thomas Jefferson was $137,000 (95% of the class had debt).   The monthly payment for this debt is $1,600.  Graduates must earn over $100,000 to manage this level of debt.  

Thus, only about one third of graduates actually ended up as lawyers (nine months after graduation), and most of the graduates that landed lawyer jobs did not earn enough to manage the average debt of the class.  It appears that a significant percentage of the class is likely to enroll in IBR, a federal program designed to help graduates in “financial hardship,” paying reduced monthly payments based upon a percentage of their income, with the balance of the loan forgiven after 25 years.  That is what “access” to a legal career comes to for many unfortunate law graduates today.

Let’s now look at things from the law school end.  From 2008 through 2011, Thomas Jefferson law graduates had a total combined debt over $100 million, nearly all of it federally guaranteed or directly borrowed from the government.  How many students with positive outcomes did this money buy?

The combined debt of 2010 law graduates of Cooley was $91 million; at New York Law School it was $48 million; at Suffolk it was $46 million.  Or take Florida Coastal.  In 2008 the combined debt of law graduates was $28 million; in 2009 it was $33 million; in 2010 it was $45 million.  Each year the enrollment went up, and the total debt with it.  Four hundred students graduated in 2010—eight hundred new first years enrolled that August.  One might guess what the combined debt of the class of 2013 will be.

We are talking about real money here—and nearly all of it goes directly from federal coffers to law school bank accounts.  The students are conduits for the money.   These student-conduits bear the burden of the loans in the first instance, and the federal government thereafter.  The average debt of graduates at all of these schools was well above $100,000.  Not all of this debt will be fully paid in the end.  Law schools get their money up front.

This is not just about low-ranked law schools.  In 2010, Georgetown graduates had a combined debt of $71 million, Harvard and American were over $50 million (G.W. just below that), with another half dozen law schools over $40 million.   Remember, these amounts only cover a single year.  High-tuition law schools with large enrollments collect a hundred million dollars of debt-based, government supplied money every two to three years.  Law schools have been ramping up tuition and enrollment without restraint thanks to an obliging federal loan program.

Federal loans indeed provide access to a legal career for many, and that is important, although we must also be mindful of the poor results suffered by many individuals.  Law schools, meanwhile, are engorging themselves on the federal loan program.

—Brian Z. Tamanaha

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[Navneesh]

If your going to take out a HELOC, I'd do it on just the amount nedeed to repair your house. If you put your credit card (unsecured debt) into a loan that's secured with your house, you're putting your home in jeopary if something were to happen (illness, loss of job) and you couldn't make the payments. Try rolling over the credit card debt to a card with a introductory 0% interest rate or just call your credit card company and see if they can give you a better rate than you've got now.

[Jermaine]

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[Yazmin]

The problem is crnaiteg an archetype of what "boys" are like vs what "girls" are like. Doesn't that play into socio/genetic misconceptions?Men, which is the foundation of what boys might become is the judgement of how to "play to boys, rather than girls" and it shows that some have an idea of men as cro-magnun idiots, obsessed with using animal bones as weapons.If you look at the things that identify "great" men, hell even "good" men, hell, even "decent men" it is the fact that men are expected to find an answer within a chaotic environment, prior to the defining the cause. "Manhood" is a decisive thing, there can be input and interaction, and conference, and correction, but immediately, there is a necessity for "decision."So a School described in those articles is actually anti-thetical to manhood, because it is built on the premise that noone would have made a decision. If it catered to Men, it would be a school of decisions, repercussions, and rewards, and derision.A school built to favor "boys" who are exptected to become men, would be MUCH more strict, MUCH more dominant, and ONLY rewarding of defiance, if that defiance is well described, and explained.A school for girls, from the feminized students perspective :"You are wrong, because the answer is unfair!" then the student is allowed to "feel out" their statements. Without any real truth. A Feminized educational system, allows students to question the value of mass and inertia, because it favors men, when it comes to physical strength.A "Boys school" student would say : How is hydrogen equal to Uranium, when Uranium is more than 300 times as heavy per molar mass, highly reactive without external interferrance, and contains 230+ more atoms? how does that work?The feminization of education isn't about the subdugation of male instincts (which I guess consist of violence, bloodshed, and kicking a ball, without having to answer to anyone)it's about the complete lack of accountability for educational standards.Example. Your hubby, ROCKS! and is a lawyer. Betty broderick. Woman, commited cold blooded murder, but there was nuance.Hell watch lifetime one weekend, and you will see that women are rarely held accountable, because of "nuance."I'm not saying that women are weaker, or ALWAYS get a better shake, but men? Don't even expect a meeting, let alone a shake. Men are much . . . more. . . .I would say "complete" and I don't mean that as better, but rather as. . . ."all or nothing" If a man takes a risk? hand? meet the ass, cuz it's about to be given to you. Women? lets find nuance.Absent HARD science, absent strict rules, and absent the honest effort of teachers to share knowledge, rather than personal arrogance, young boys, who are rebellious (which is praised, in fact graded in many universities) do poorly in public schools? Sorry, this whole review just pisses me off.(and this time I didn't bring a shovel, If I'm in a hole, someone else dug it for their own convenience.)

[King]

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[Andreea]

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[Anushka]

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[Lidia]

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[Salvador]

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[Dharmesh]

Your just noticing this now? If you didnt ntoice expression and tone of voice plays no part in online chatting. (Unless you use a mic which we arnt)My point is, even though primus sucks is primus' (old) slogan, its primus that sucks not les. Les sucks has never been a slogan.

[Suryaprakash]

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