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Price of Law School Hits New High at Columbia ($110,450), Others Close Behind

12 points by Kaibeezy 4y ago

iancmceachern 4y ago
It's $110k A YEAR
rahimnathwani 4y ago
Median salary for employed graduates is $190k. I presume it goes up over time.
- 86J8oyZv 4y ago
  Presumably it starts well below that, reaching $190K mid-career. And it’s still less than I make as a software engineer with an undergrad state school CS degree that left me only $30K in debt…
  - rahimnathwani 4y ago
    Nope. $190k is first-year associate pay at top law firms (Columbia law school graduates mostly go to large firms). Some of those firms pay over $200k to first-year associates. 7 years later they are likely learning twice that: https://news.bloomberglaw.com/business-and-practice/three-top-law-firms-match-new-davis-polk-associate-salaries https://news.bloomberglaw.com/business-and-practice/three-to...
    - deleted 4y ago
      [deleted]
  - zonethundery 4y ago
    Nah. Biglaw associates start @ 215k [0]. A crushing life though, according to most of my acquaintances in the field. [0] https://www.biglawinvestor.com/biglaw-salary-scale/ https://www.biglawinvestor.com/biglaw-salary-scale/
rdtwo 4y ago
With income based repayment it doesn’t matter if it’s 1M a year. Nobody is paying the full price
- Rebelgecko 4y ago
  Especially since law schools raise tuition to fund LRAPs (programs where the schools cover graduates' student loan payments until forgiveness kicks in). Kind of a win/win for the school and student, assuming they're eligible
monadology 4y ago
It may be helpful to contextualize some of these numbers. I'm a law student at a similarly-ranked law school in a lower-COLA area. Like most of my peers I have a job lined up at a BigLaw firm in NYC which pays $215 base and about $35 in bonuses for a total of $250. This steps up in a rigid scale yearly until partnership (or you burn out and die). The older numbers are pre-covid pay bump which has reset comp, and with consulting bumping I suspect comp may rise again. It's a substantial capital outlay (even though I don't know anyone paying full sticker) but if you can stomach the work it pays for itself fairly quickly. Happy to give a more detailed breakdown of financials as I suspect there are not many lawyers on HN (I made an account to comment on this).
- devwastaken 4y ago
  The problem isn't necessarily the money after. It's affording it as a student. Even if tuition is covered, somebody has to pay living expenses, books, etc.

12 points by Kaibeezy 4y ago

iancmceachern 4y ago

It's $110k A YEAR

rahimnathwani 4y ago

Median salary for employed graduates is $190k. I presume it goes up over time.

86J8oyZv 4y ago
Presumably it starts well below that, reaching $190K mid-career. And it’s still less than I make as a software engineer with an undergrad state school CS degree that left me only $30K in debt…
- rahimnathwani 4y ago
  Nope. $190k is first-year associate pay at top law firms (Columbia law school graduates mostly go to large firms). Some of those firms pay over $200k to first-year associates. 7 years later they are likely learning twice that: https://news.bloomberglaw.com/business-and-practice/three-top-law-firms-match-new-davis-polk-associate-salaries https://news.bloomberglaw.com/business-and-practice/three-to...
  - deleted 4y ago
    [deleted]
- zonethundery 4y ago
  Nah. Biglaw associates start @ 215k [0]. A crushing life though, according to most of my acquaintances in the field. [0] https://www.biglawinvestor.com/biglaw-salary-scale/ https://www.biglawinvestor.com/biglaw-salary-scale/

rdtwo 4y ago

With income based repayment it doesn’t matter if it’s 1M a year. Nobody is paying the full price

Rebelgecko 4y ago
Especially since law schools raise tuition to fund LRAPs (programs where the schools cover graduates' student loan payments until forgiveness kicks in). Kind of a win/win for the school and student, assuming they're eligible

monadology 4y ago

It may be helpful to contextualize some of these numbers. I'm a law student at a similarly-ranked law school in a lower-COLA area. Like most of my peers I have a job lined up at a BigLaw firm in NYC which pays $215 base and about $35 in bonuses for a total of $250. This steps up in a rigid scale yearly until partnership (or you burn out and die). The older numbers are pre-covid pay bump which has reset comp, and with consulting bumping I suspect comp may rise again. It's a substantial capital outlay (even though I don't know anyone paying full sticker) but if you can stomach the work it pays for itself fairly quickly. Happy to give a more detailed breakdown of financials as I suspect there are not many lawyers on HN (I made an account to comment on this).

devwastaken 4y ago
The problem isn't necessarily the money after. It's affording it as a student. Even if tuition is covered, somebody has to pay living expenses, books, etc.