MUSIC
As you're selecting a law school, one of the key things you need to consider is law school debt.
Read any newspaper or blog these days
and you'll find great concern over the amount of debt
law students take on.
Too much debt reduces your choice in jobs,
affects your standard of living, and because of compounding interest,
greatly increases the amount you'll spend on education.
Luckily, if you choose Nebraska Law, chances are
you can avoid a lot of these problems.
We were recently named National Jurist Magazine's
4th best value school because compared to other schools,
our tuition is low and our students graduate with
some of the lowest debt in the country, around $54,000.
In contrast, the average US public law school student borrows around $75,000.
At a private law school that number jumps to about $125,000.
So what exactly do these numbers mean for you?
If you took on the typical amount of debt at Nebraska and paid it back over ten years,
your payments would be about $621 monthly.
And you would pay just over $20,000 in interest.
Compare that to the debt that results at other schools.
A student with the average debt from attending another public law school
would pay $871 per month and almost $30,000 in interest.
And a private law school student would have monthly payments
more than double that of a Nebraska Law grad...
around $1,438 per month with nearly $50,000 interest.
Right now all of those numbers probably seem unreal.
But here's why they matter.
Experts recommend your job salary after graduation
roughly equal your total debt so that you can
pay your monthly loan payments and also pay for
things like a mortgage, car payments and food.
The more debt you have, the more money you need to make.
The problem is that the highest paying jobs may not
be as readily available as you have been led to believe.
The highest paying entry level jobs across the country
in 2011 paid about $160,000.
But only about 14 percent of graduates get those jobs.
The majority of new attorneys,
around 52 percent of them,
have jobs that pay in the $40-$65,000 range.
The danger is that you could take on a lot of debt
and then not land one of the few jobs that would help you pay it off.
Another concern is that there's only one type of job
that offers a $160,000 salary.
Working a large law firm.
Now that may be a great option for you.
But you may want to do other things with your law degree.
With a Nebraska education and low debt,
it's likely you can do what you want to do,
whether that's run a non-profit.
Or work as a public defender.
Or for the government.
Perhaps you want to start your own practice
and be your own boss.
Or perhaps you do want to work in a large firm in
Lincoln or New York City or anywhere in the United States.
The point is this, at Nebraska Law you receive a
wonderful education and you will leave with
relatively low debt.
You're prepared for the high-paying law firm job,
but you also can take the jobs that otherwise might
not be an option if you're saddled with a higher debt load.
The opportunities are endless.
A low debt load means more opportunity to have
the career in law that you have always dreamed about.
And you can start on your path to that career at Nebraska Law.
MUSIC.