/9918578/Banner

/9918578/Banner_2

/9918578/Mid

section

articleId

product

orgType

parrefer

accountID

Consulting

Banking

Accounting

Fintech

Internships

Rankings

Internship Rankings

Intern Resource Center

Explore Internships

Vault Law Home

Practice Area Resource Centers

Regional Resource Centers

Summer Program Resource Center

Vault Law Culture & Inclusion Survey

Vault Law

Guides

Events

Financial Services

Technology

Grad School

Work Relationships

Productivity

Diversity, Equity & Inclusion

Social Impact

Remote Work

Negotiating

Changing Jobs

Workplace Issues

Blog

Resume Samples

Cover Letter Samples

Interview Tips & Questions

A Day in the Life

International

Career Readiness

Explore Professions

Research Industries

Search Companies

Career Advice

Employers

Schools

&lt;p&gt;It’s no secret that here at Vault, we love a good &lt;a rel=&quot;noopener noreferrer&quot; href=&quot;/best-companies-to-work-for/law&quot; target=&quot;_blank&quot;&gt;law ranking&lt;/a&gt;, and we hope that our rankings help job hunters find the best firm for them by emphasizing positive traits. Taking a different approach, U.S. News &amp;amp; World Report recently released a list of schools that prospective law students may want to avoid, a list of law school graduates with the most paralyzing debt. Below are the top ten law schools with the highest average indebted 2013 law graduates who incurred law school debt:&lt;/p&gt;&lt;ol&gt;&lt;li&gt;Thomas Jefferson School of Law—$180,665 (92% of graduates in debt)&lt;/li&gt;&lt;li&gt;New York Law School —$164,739 (84% of graduates in debt)&lt;/li&gt;&lt;li&gt;American University (Washington College of Law) —$158,636 (88% of graduates in debt)&lt;/li&gt;&lt;li&gt;California Western School of Law—$157,748 (90% of graduates in debt)&lt;/li&gt;&lt;li&gt;Northwestern University—$155,777 (78% of graduates in debt)&lt;/li&gt;&lt;li&gt;Whittier College—$154,267 (92% of graduates in debt)&lt;/li&gt;&lt;li&gt;University of Chicago—$153,753 (85% of graduates in debt)&lt;/li&gt;&lt;li&gt;Florida Coastal School of Law—$150,166 (91% of graduates in debt)&lt;/li&gt;&lt;li&gt;St. Thomas University—$150,166 (91% of graduates in debt)&lt;/li&gt;&lt;li&gt;University of Miami—$148,513 (79% of graduates in debt)&lt;/li&gt;&lt;/ol&gt;&lt;p&gt;Prospective law students should also keep in mind that due to the glory of compound interest, their debt will continue to grow even as they pay it off, especially if they are taking advantage of income based repayment programs. When faced with sacrificing three years of their youth to law school only to be spit&#160; out into a job market where first year associate salaries continue to &lt;a rel=&quot;noopener noreferrer&quot; href=&quot;http://www.nalp.org/classof2011_salpressrel&quot; target=&quot;_blank&quot;&gt;decline&lt;/a&gt;, it is no wonder that more and more prospective law students have &lt;a href=&quot;/blogs/vaults-law-blog-legal-careers-and-industry-news/does-decreased-law-school-enrollment-signal-a-change-in-legal-education&quot;&gt;decided to pass&lt;/a&gt; on taking out over $150,000 in loans.&#160;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;FOLLOW US ON TWITTER&#160;&lt;a rel=&quot;noopener noreferrer&quot; href=&quot;https://twitter.com/VaultLaw&quot; target=&quot;_blank&quot;&gt;@VAULTLAW&lt;/a&gt; and INSTAGRAM &lt;a rel=&quot;noopener noreferrer&quot; href=&quot;http://instagram.com/vaultcareers?ref=badge&quot; target=&quot;_blank&quot;&gt;@VaultCareers&lt;/a&gt;!&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;LIKE US ON&#160;&lt;a rel=&quot;noopener noreferrer&quot; href=&quot;https://www.facebook.com/Vault&quot; target=&quot;_blank&quot;&gt;FACEBOOK&lt;/a&gt;!&lt;/p&gt;

Kaitlin Edleman

Article

Announcing Vault’s Instagram Account—@ VaultCareers! 

This Week's Law Firms in the News - March 17, 2014

How Can Female Attorneys Avoid Being an Underpaid Non-Partner Track Associate? 

This Week's Law Firms in the News - March 9, 2014 

The Library