Cost of attendance
In-depth analysis on law school costs including tuition, grants, debt, cost of living, and more.
Net Tuition for U.S. Law Schools
Net tuition is the average amount paid by all students during an academic year. Unlike nominal tuition, net tuition accounts for price discrimination, i.e. different students pay a different price. For the 2022-2023 academic year, 20.6% paid full price. The remaining 79.4% had a tuition discount, whether merit-based (LSAT, GPA, and under-represented status are the most common factors) or need-based (increasingly rare). Some of these discounts are conditional, thus not guaranteed from year to year.
Between 2012 and 2018, the average net tuition at public law schools declined, despite nominal tuition increasing on average. This was due to increased discounting. Since then, net tuition has been on the rise. However, net tuition changed vary, sometimes wildly, as shown below.
Top 5 increases in private schools (2017-18 to 2022-23)
| School | Change |
|---|---|
| Quinnipiac University | +65.2%$21.5k |
| University of St. Thomas - Minneapolis | +61.9%$12.9k |
| Northeastern University | +58.1%$17.4k |
| Drexel University | +55.4%$18.4k |
| Cardozo-Yeshiva University | +49%$22.4k |
Top 5 decreases in private schools (2017-18 to 2022-23)
| School | Change |
|---|---|
| University of Dayton | -56.5%$13.5k |
| New England School of Law | -40.1%$30.3k |
| Vermont Law School | -26.4%$28.2k |
| DePaul University | -24.1%$29.3k |
| Catholic University of America | -21.7%$35.1k |
Top 5 increases in public schools (2017-18 to 2022-23)
| School | Change |
|---|---|
| George Mason University | +455.6%$4.8k |
| University of Oregon | +214.9%$13.6k |
| University of Iowa | +94.7%$6.5k |
| University of Oklahoma | +90.6%$11.7k |
| University of California - Davis | +81.4%$17.8k |
Top 5 decreases in public schools (2017-18 to 2022-23)
| School | Change |
|---|---|
| Michigan State University | -75.3%$30.1k |
| University of Florida | -49.9%$11.9k |
| University of Arizona | -48.2%$8.4k |
| University of Alabama | -43.2%$10.6k |
| University of Georgia | -41.2%$14.3k |
School-specific tuition and scholarship data come from the American Bar Association. Net tuition is an estimate based on nominal full-time tuition and full-time scholarship data. The estimates at public law schools are higher than reality because net tuition was calculated using resident tuition at public schools. In order to more accurately estimate net tuition, scholarship data, as well as enrollment data, would need to distinguish between residents and non-residents. LST uses normal averages rather than weighted averages for the group averages.
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