Most people understand how law school is extremely expensive, and how it requires a substantial investment of time and money to become a licensed attorney. Fortunately, scholarships and other types of financial aid are available to law students in ways not available to students who enroll in other graduate programs. As a result, paying sticker price to attend law school (a nickname for attending law school without any scholarships or other financial assistance) is only advisable in certain circumstances.
Family is Paying for Law School
Paying sticker price to attend law school is not that big of a deal if your family is paying for your law school expenses. Some people are fortunate enough to have parents or other family well-off enough to pay for their law school education. If there are no financial consequences to attending law school, then it usually makes sense to attend the best law school to which you are accepted. Of course, if your family is only paying for part of your law school expenses, then it still may make sense to attend another school that offers you financial aid, but if law school is totally covered, it is not a big deal to pay sticker price.
However, if your family is looking to be repaid for shelling out money to pay for your law school expenses, you may wish to choose another school that is offering you more money. Even though repayment agreements between family are often not memorialized in writing, many parents and other family members expect to be repaid for paying educational expenses at some point in the future. As discussed in prior articles, it is important to reduce such agreements to a writing so that everyone is on the same page about repayment, and this situation could influence your decision to attend law school at sticker price.
Top Law Schools
Another situation in which paying sticker price to attend law school is not a big deal is if you attend a top law school. It is generally agreed that if you attend a top law school, and are an average student or better at such a school, you will have opportunities that will make up for the student debt you accrue in order to attend that school. It is true that many graduates from top law schools can obtain employment in Biglaw, through which they can pay off their student loans in several years. Graduates from highly-regarded law schools can also score clerkships with top judges that can also open up employment options not available at other institutions.
There are disagreements over which law schools are elite enough to make paying sticker price to attend law school worth the price. Some think only several law schools are worthy enough of this distinction, and others believe that a few dozen schools have solid enough employment outcomes to warrant paying sticker price. Personally, I would say that the top 15-20 law schools in the country based on any of the reputable law school rankings out there would warrant a student paying full sticker price in exchange for the opportunities afforded at those schools.
ROTC in Law School
Another time when paying sticker price to attend law school might be advisable is if you are seeking an ROTC scholarship to fund your legal education. As discussed in a prior article, individuals may be eligible to receive an ROTC scholarship to pay educational costs for the last two years of law school, and receive a substantial stipend to pay for most living costs as well. Individuals who receive an ROTC scholarship generally receive all of their tuition and related costs paid for by the government no matter if they attend an expensive private school or a cheaper state school. As a result, if you are interested in pursing an ROTC scholarship, and do not mind paying for the first year of law school on your own, it may make sense to attend a law school at sticker price.
Geographic Preferences
Another situation when paying sticker price to attend law school might be reasonable is if you would like to practice law in certain geographic areas. In some areas, there are a few law schools that are critical to securing employment and moving up in the legal profession in a given community. Indeed, there are some states that only have a few law schools, and the alumni network and other attributes of those schools make it very advantageous to attend those schools. Many people know which part of the country in which they would like to practice law after graduating because they have family in an area, they grew up in an area, or for other reasons. In such situations, it might make sense to attend a law school that is important to a geographic area even if a student needs to pay sticker price in order to ensure that the student will have the most opportunities in that area after they graduate from law school.
All told, scholarships and other financial assistance is available for law school in ways not accessible in other educational programs. As a result, it usually doesn’t make sense to pay sticker price to attend law school. However, in certain situations, it might be advisable to pay full sticker price in order to earn a law degree.