°®ÓÎÏ·ÌåÓý

by Elizabeth Bodamer

Shaking.

My hands shook the entire time as I filled out the online application to lock in the loans. It was the only way to pay for law school, I kept reminding myself.

As the first to graduate college and attend law school in my family, financing law school was scary for me. My family could not afford to pay for my legal education. The goals and motivations that were the foundation for my decision to go to law school � my “why,� � carried me through graduation and beyond. However, like many in the 2024 1L class, who are now the rising 2L class, scholarships/grants and loans made financing law school a reality.

Both the 2023 and 2024 first-year classes reported the cost of attendance as a major consideration when deciding where to attend law school. In fact, 84% of 2024 1L respondents report that cost of attendance was a driving factor they considered when deciding where to enroll. This is not new or surprising. In other research, last year’s test takers revealed that cost was a top barrier that would hold them back from going to law school, and that trend is holding true for this year’s test takers. Clearly, when understanding the journey to law school and how people decide where to enroll, it is important to examine how they finance their legal education dreams.

°®ÓÎÏ·ÌåÓý’s 2024 Matriculant survey included financing questions and found that 1Ls used and relied on a number of sources of funding, with the primary two being school specific scholarships or grants and federal loans.

• About 7 out of 10 1Ls reported they used school specific scholarships or grants to help pay for their first year of law school.
  • Racially and ethnically minoritized 1Ls used school specific scholarships or grants at a rate 15% lower than their white peers.
  • About 1 in 5 1Ls relied on school specific scholarships or grants heavily, using them to pay 76% to 100% of the total cost of their 1L attendance.
• On the other hand, just under half of all 1Ls reported using federal loans.
  • A quarter of 1Ls who used federal loans relied on them heavily, using them to pay 76% to 100% of the total cost of their 1L attendance.
  • Among racially and ethnically minoritized students and Pell Grant recipients, almost a third used federal loans to pay 76% to 100% of their total costs, at rates significantly higher than their peers.

Given the usage and reliance on federal loans, the 2024 1L class is anticipating on average $76,300 in law school debt by graduation. Strikingly, 17% of 1Ls anticipate owing $150,000 or more by graduation. 

And the numbers are even more stark for 1Ls from marginalized communities and backgrounds.[1] For example, Black/African American 1Ls report an average anticipated law school debt load of $108,713, 43% higher than the average debt of all 1L respondents, and 31% anticipate owing $150,000 or more. First-generation college graduates anticipate owing an average of $84,796, almost 20% higher than the debt load that continuing generation students anticipate. Pell grant recipients anticipate an average law school debt of $97,197, almost 50% higher than that of non-recipients. 

About 30% of all 1Ls who reported using federal loans anticipate graduating law school with a debt of $150,000 or more. This rate jumps to 55% for 1Ls who plan to rely on federal loans heavily, using federal loans to cover 76%-100% of the total cost of attendance.

The 2024 1L class still has a couple of years before graduating. Time will tell how much they will end up accruing, with the expenses that are more than just tuition, but also fees, books, course materials, supplies, equipment, living expenses like housing, food, and transportation.

Together, the two new reports about the 2024 1L class provide key insights about the journey to law school, including its financial feasibility, to help legal stakeholders support students all along the way. Join us to learn more about the 2024 1L class by downloading the full reports. And be sure to check out the other reports by °®ÓÎÏ·ÌåÓý’s Applied Research team.

• New 2024 1L reports
  • The 2024 1L Profile
  • Funding the First Year: How 2024 1Ls Paid for Law School
• The Composition of the First-Year Law School Class and Enrollment Trends
• The 2023 1L Profile
• 2023 First-Year Law School Class: A Focus on Students with Disabilities
• 2023-2024 Test Takers
• LGBTQ+ Inclusion: From Candidate to Law Student, 2024 Update
• 2022 First-Year Law School Class: A Focus on Students with Disabilities

[1] The term “minoritized� refers to populations that have been treated as less important than the dominant population in terms of access, power, and other aspects of social processes. Minoritized incorporates an understanding of social structures rather than being numerically/statistically smaller/fewer. Minoritized can be used to describe various populations and is not synonymous with or limited to racially/ethnically underrepresented populations. This term is used interchangeably with marginalized.