UND School of Law is Ranked Among the Top in Affordability

Document Type

News Article

Publication Date

9-10-2015

Campus Unit

School of Law

Abstract

U.S. News has ranked the UND School of Law sixth out of ten law schools whose students graduate with the least amount of debt.

U.S. News reports:

With high costs and still-shaky job prospects, law school remains a risky investment.

Within 10 months of graduation, just 71 percent of the class of 2014 landed long-term, full-time jobs for which bar passage was required or a J.D. was preferred, according to data from the American Bar Association.

Meanwhile, students in the class of 2014 who borrowed to pay for law school took on an average $111,899 in debt, according to data submitted to U.S. News by 182 ranked institutions.

But not every law school will land students with six figures in debt. Borrowers at these 10 law schools tended to have lower student loan balances – taking on an average $62,989 in debt, according to U.S. News data.

The school with the lowest debt is Utah's Brigham Young University, where borrowers in the class of 2014 graduated with just $54,203 in debt. At BYU, which is led by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, tuition and fees ran $11,620 per year for Mormon law students in 2014-2015 and $23,240 for non-Mormons.

The University of Alabama, tied at No. 22 among law schools, is the highest ranked school to make the list. Student loan borrowers in the class of 2014 graduated with $69,440.

The following law schools had the least debt for the class of 2014 among graduates who borrowed. Schools designated by U.S. News as Unranked were excluded from this list. U.S. News did not calculate numerical ranks for Unranked programs because they did not meet certain criteria that U.S. News requires.

School name (state) Average debt load, class of 2014 U.S. News law school rank

Brigham Young University (Clark) (UT) $54,203 34 (tie)

University of Hawaii—Manoa (Richardson) $56,266 82 (tie)

North Carolina Central University $58,061 RNP*

University of Nebraska—Lincoln $62,985 56 (tie)

University of Arkansas—Fayetteville $63,541 75 (tie)

University of North Dakota $64,818 138 (tie)

University of Tennessee—Knoxville $66,201 52 (tie)

University of Wyoming $67,087 108 (tie)

University of Missouri $67,289 59 (tie)

University of Alabama $69,440 22 (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.

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