Lifting the Burden: Law Student Debt as a Barrier to Public Service

Executive Summary10SUMMARY OF LIFTING THE BURDEN: LAW STUDENT DEBT AS A BARRIERTO PUBLIC SERVICEThis Report provides an analysis of the educational debt problem, discusses theimpact of the problem on the legal profession and society, summarizes strategies thathave been developed to help address the problem and highlights some success storiesusing these methods. The Report includes ten conclusions about the debt burdenissue and its impact on the profession and presents 19 detailed recommendationswhich, taken together, constitute a comprehensive package designed to provide relieffor and incentives to lawyers who want to serve their communities through publicservice careers.CONCLUSIONS: THE IMPACT OF THE LAW STUDENT DEBT BURDEN ON THELEGAL PROFESSION AND SOCIETY AND STRATEGIES TO ADDRESS THE PROBLEM• Law school tuitions have skyrocketed. Since the early 1970’s, there has been a steepand persistent rise in the costs of legal education and in the tuitions law schoolscharge students. During the period 1992-2002, the cost of living in the U.S. hasrisen 28%, while the cost of tuition for public law schools has risen 134% (forresidents) and 100% (for non-residents) and private law school tuition has increased76%. In 2002, the median law school tuitions were: $24,920 (private law school),$18,131 (non-resident public law school) and $9,252 (resident public law school).• The vast majority of law students borrow to finance their legal education. In 2002,almost 87% of law students borrowed to finance their legal education.• Law students are borrowing increasingly larger sums to finance their legal education.As tuitions and other expenses of attending law school rose, more and more studentsfound they needed to borrow to pay for law school. During the 1990’s, the averageamounts students borrowed more than doubled. In the year 2002, the amountborrowed by many law students exceeded $80,000.• Public service salaries have not kept pace with rising law school debt burdens orprivate sector salaries. Entry-level salaries for government and other public servicepositions have always been significantly lower than those in private practice. Overthe years since the mid-1970’s, the median starting salaries in private practice haverisen at a much faster pace than entry-level public service salaries. In 2002, themedian starting salary for private practice was $90,000, while the median startingsalary for public interest legal work was $36,000.•High student debt bars many law graduates from pursuing public service careers. Aslaw school tuitions and student debt have sharply escalated, fewer and fewer lawschool graduates can afford to take the comparatively low-paying public servicepositions that are available in government agencies or with prosecutor, public defenderor legal services offices. A national study recently found that law student debtprevented 66% of law student respondents from considering a public service career.• Many law graduates who take public service legal jobs must leave after they gaintwo to three years of experience. Despite their high debt burden, some lawgraduates initially accept public service jobs. Some who begin careers in publicservice, and who would like to remain, leave after a few years when they find theirdebts are too severely constraining on their hopes for making ends meet, muchless raising children or saving for retirement. These lawyers leave just at thepoint when they have gained enough experience to provide valuable services totheir employers and clients.• Public service employers report serious difficulty recruiting and retaining lawyers.Public service employers, such as prosecutor or legal services offices, havevacancies they cannot fill because new law graduates cannot afford to work for