Sure, the apprenticeship path has much less non dischargeable debt, but you still need to find a job to make ends meat, or hope that the lawyer you're apprentic

Sure, the apprenticeship path has much less non dischargeable debt, but you still need to find a job to make ends meat, or hope that the lawyer you're apprenticing with pays you a living wage. I've often thought that at least in CA, where the apprenticeship path could pay off would be competing for jobs against the lower ranked schools like Santa Clara, USF, Pacific, Davis, etc. It can be much harder (due to the glut of law school grads) for graduates of programs like those to find jobs, unless they graduated at the top of their class. The apprenticeship path might help your resume stick out compared to the mass of middle of the road grads from those schools.