It all depends on how much they want you. In my son’s case, GULC’s offer was much lower than some of the other T14’s. He asked for a review, but they only raised it a token amount.
The moral is to apply broadly so you can compare offers (aka ‘negotiate’).
fwiw: of the places my son visited, GULC was his favorite; they put on a nice show.
It’s tough to beat DC as a place to attend law school, but let’s look at the numbers:
Out of a class of 650 graduates(2018 figures, most recent available), ten months after graduation 534 had a full time bar passage job required. So 126 graduates didn’t find jobs as lawyers-that’s not great. In terms of all jobs, the numbers are better. Personally, I find it troubling that so many new grads are employed by the school; these are usually one year positions which make it appear that more graduates have jobs, but clearly they aren’t careers. And worth noting are the salaries for public sector jobs. According to USNWR, for 2018 graduates of GULC the average debt was $166, 323 with 70% of grads carrying a debt.
But here are the stats for GULC(these are their numbers).
https://www.law.georgetown.edu/wp-content/uploads/2019/06/L18-ABA-Employment-Summary-with-Addendum.pdf
It’s best to be mindful, absent scholarships, what attending law school will cost, and even if scholarships are obtained, make sure to read the fine print. This is a business decision, and it’s important to weigh all the pluses and minuses before making a decision. My concern is new graduates having debt that is multiples of their starting salary.
@oldlaw: Very helpful post.
Georgetown Law employment report is impressive as less than 3% are unemployed & seeking placement.
Over 87% had full time employment in non-university funded positions.
The university funded positions seem interesting & worthwhile.
The average amount of student debt at $166,323 is disturbing, but the median reported pay in the private sector of $180,000 makes the debt serviceable and could be paid off in well less than 10 years (could be paid off in 5 or 6 years).
Of course, for those making significantly less than the median pay of $180,000, student loan debt of $166,323 could take 10 to 15 years, possibly 20 years, to resolve.
It appears that at least 325 of the 650 graduates of GULC are making at least a base salary of $100,000. This is probably the minimum needed to be able to service student loan debt of $166,323.
Repayment plans for those with student loan debt of $170,000.
6 year repayment plan at 6.8% interest rate = $2,882 per month.
8 year repayment plan at 6.8% interest rate = $2,300 per month.
10 year repayment plan assuming 6.8% interest = $1,957 per month.
15 year repayment plan assuming 6.8% interest = $1,509 per month.
20 year repayment plan assuming 6.8% interest = $1,298 per month.
Assuming a starting base salary of $120,000, a recent law grad would have after-tax take-home-pay of about $7,000. This income should enable one to repay $170,000 at 6.8% interest rate of student loan debt in 8 years ($2,300 per month).
Assuming a starting base salary of $180,000, a recent law grad would have about $10,000 per month after-tax take home pay. This salary should enable one to repay student loan debt of $170,000 at 6.8% interest rate in 6 years ($2,882 per month).
Those earning just $90,000 per year starting base salary would have about $6,000 per month after-tax take home pay. If this person can live on $4,000 a month, then this student should be able to repay $170,000 @ 6.8% interest rate in student loan debt in 10 years ($1,957 per month).
If annual bonuses are applied to outstanding student loan debt, then the payment period could be reduced substantially.
While not cheap, the cost of a law degree is the cost of entering into this profession.
For those who receive offers of full tuition & fees scholarships to law school, it may be worthwhile to forego biglaw recruiting in order to enjoy financial freedom after law school.
I’ll admit to being a skeptic when it comes to any law school’s employment numbers. As far as I can tell, law is the only profession which requires its schools to publish such numbers, and the ABA requires it because of scandals associated with law schools publishing incorrect-i.e. inflated-job statistics.
Law schools have also learned to game the statistics with the new requirements. In GULC’s case, the “long term” school funded jobs last just one year(the minimum ABA requirement); these jobs also materialized after the ABA decided that it was OK to include school funded jobs in the jobs statistics(for several years the ABA would not allow it).
In light of the expense and extremely competitive job market, attending law school should be viewed as a business decision, undertaken only if the cost/benefit analysis shows a clear long term benefit.