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A few years of law school can easily lead to enough debt to last a decade.
With tuition and fees often running at $30,000 per year or more, many students take out loans. Among the 183 ranked law schools that submitted debt data to U.S. News, the average debt for 2015 graduates who borrowed was $112,748.
Schools vary when it comes to how much they dole out in scholarships, grants or financial aid. And at some institutions, students graduate with relatively minimal debt.
[Find outhow ready you are to pay for law school.]
At the University of Hawaii–Manoa, the average debt for 2015 graduates who borrowed was $54,988. Alumni from the school had the lowest average debt among their peers from the 183 institutions that submitted data to U.S. News in an annual survey.
Three schools are new to the list of law schools where graduates have low debt: University of South Dakota, Georgia State University and Liberty University in Virginia.
[Considerthese 10 ways to get financially ready for law school.]
Of the 10 schools where graduates borrowed the least, the average debt was $62,735.
Graduates from the class of 2015 who borrowed to attend the Thomas Jefferson School of Law had the most debt, on average: $172,726.
[Choosea cost-efficient law school.]
Below are the 10 schools where 2015 graduates who borrowed for law school had the least debt. Unranked schools, which did not meet certain criteria required by U.S. News to be numerically ranked, were not considered for this report.
| School (name) (state) |
Average debt load, class of 2015 |
U.S. News law school rank |
| University of Hawaii–Manoa (Richardson) | $54,988 | 92 (tie) |
| University of South Dakota | $57,170 | 143 |
| North Carolina Central University | $57,924 | RNP* |
| University of Nebraska–Lincoln | $58,744 | 57 (tie) |
| Brigham Young University (Clark) (UT) | $62,423 | 38 (tie) |
| University of Arkansas–Fayetteville | $64,901 | 86 (tie) |
| Georgia State University | $66,637 | 57 (tie) |
| University of Tennessee–Knoxville | $66,939 | 65 (tie) |
| Liberty University (VA) | $68,667 | RNP |
| University of Arkansas–Little Rock (Bowen) | $68,960 | 136 (tie) |
* RNP denotes an institution that is ranked in the bottom one-fourth of all law schools. U.S. News calculates a rank for the school but has decided not to publish it.
Don’t see your school in the top 10? Access the U.S. News Law School Compass to find debt data, complete rankings and much more. School officials can access historical data and rankings, including of peer institutions, via U.S. News Academic Insights.
U.S. News surveyed 205 schools for our 2015 survey of law programs. Schools self-reported myriad data regarding their academic programs and the makeup of their student body, among other areas, making U.S. News’ data the most accurate and detailed collection of college facts and figures of its kind. While U.S. News uses much of this survey data to rank schools for our annual Best Law Schools rankings, the data can also be useful when examined on a smaller scale. U.S. News will now produce lists of data, separate from the overall rankings, meant to provide students and parents a means to find which schools excel, or have room to grow, in specific areas that are important to them. While the data come from the schools themselves, these lists are not related to, and have no influence over, U.S. News’ rankings of Best Colleges, Best Graduate Schools or Best Online Programs. The debt data above are correct as of July 19, 2016.
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10 Law Schools Where Alumni Have the Least Debt originally appeared on usnews.com
