We all know that a legal education can land the average law school graduate in up to six figures of debt (to be specific, on average, 2025 graduates racked up more than $112,500 in student debt), and we all know that egregiously high tuition costs are to blame.
But which schools had the most costly tuition and fees for out-of-state students for the 2024-2025 academic year?
The Short List blog of U.S. News has compiled a ranking for that, and it’s not at all shocking that almost all 15 schools that made the list are private. At these law schools, the average tuition and fees for the 2024-2025 academic year was at least $79,546. Just three public schools made the list — and their costs are still eye-popping, even for in-state students. Check out the ranking, below:
- Columbia University: $84,820
- New York University: $83,152
- University of Southern California: $81,940
- Cornell University: $81,416
- University of Chicago: $81,069
- University of Pennsylvania: $80,592
- Georgetown University: $79,672
- University of California Berkeley: $78,881
- Duke University: $78,774
- Harvard University: $78,692
- University of Virginia: $77,700
- Northwestern University: $77,532
- Stanford University: $76,608
- Yale University: $76,369
- University of Michigan: $75,974
At each and every one of these law schools, tuition and fees for three years of education ranges from more than $227,000 to more than $254,000. That’s more than what a first-year associate makes at most elite law firms. That being said, it’s worth noting that the law schools that made this list are among the best in the country. At highly ranked schools like these, you get what you pay for, and in the law school world, that usually means a high-paying paid job as an attorney that will allow you to service your enormous debt obligations in a timely fashion — and to be quite frank, with up to six figures of debt to pay off, that’s priceless.
No matter where you decide to go to law school, make sure that you evaluate what your payoff will be when graduation time rolls around. Given the information that’s readily available online, will you be able to find a job? Will you be able to make ends meet while making payments on your law school loans? If you don’t think the answer to these questions are “yes,” then you may want to consider another school.
15 Most Expensive U.S. Law Schools [Short List / U.S. News]
Staci Zaretsky is the managing editor of Above the Law, where she’s worked since 2011. She’d love to hear from you, so please feel free to email her with any tips, questions, comments, or critiques. You can follow her on Bluesky, X/Twitter, and Threads, or connect with her on LinkedIn.