"Will Legal Education Remain Affordable, By Whom, And How?"

Brian Tamanaha

In 1987, John Kramer, the Dean of Tulane Law School, published an article raising concerns about the adverse consequences of ever-increasing tuition. The article begins:

Law schools for the last twenty years have been testing the elasticity of demand for their product. As tuition has increased each year, outpacing even the rate of inflation, law schools have been pressing toward the point where significant numbers of college graduates may decide that it makes good economic sense to seek less expensive forms of graduate education or forgo additional credentials altogether....

This apparent elasticity is of course good news to administrators who have budgets that are heavily tuition-dependent. A more careful analysis, however, reveals ample reason for serious concern. The seats may be full in most law schools today. They may remain full tomorrow. They may even remain full until the year 2000 or beyond. But those seats may be filled almost exclusively by the sons and daughters of rich and upper-middle class white families and and handful of black and brown students from relatively impoverished backgrounds who receive substantial grants.

When Kramer wrote this article, median tuition at private law schools was "only" $8,690 [$17,204 in 2011 dollars], and $2,124 (resident) at public law schools [$4,205 inflation adjusted]. Tuition has increased above the rate of inflation every year since his article. In 2009, median tuition at private law schools was $36,000, and $16,546 at public law schools (adjust both figures upward by at least $2,000 for approximate 2011 tuition numbers).

Kramer recognized at the time that "Without the intervention of federal government in the 1970's [though the Guaranteed Student Loan Program], legal education as we know it wouldn't exist." Although he advocated raising the level of the loan limits, Kramer expressed concern that "a heavy debt burden may result in either unbearable pressure to seek out a job in one of the highest paying law firms, failure to save, or outright default."

The average debt of law students upon graduation in 1983 was estimated at $15,676 [$31,035 inflation adjusted]. Today the average debt of law graduates is around $100,000, and for many it is much higher (Cal Western law grads rank #1 in average indebtedness at $145,621).

In closing, Kramer considered and rejected various possible solutions as inadequate or infeasible. He was right. Twenty-five years later, his question "Will legal education remain affordable?" can be answered with a resounding "No!" Soon, law school seats will be filled with people in three basic categories: students from wealthy families, scholarship students who enjoy a sizable tuition discount, and students who take on an enormous debt. When--if--the third pool of prospective students shrinks, a number of law schools--expensive private schools with many graduates who secure low paying legal positions, if they get legal jobs at all--will close their doors.
Posted 12:36 PM by Brian Tamanaha [link]