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&lt;p&gt;While law school can be a good investment for some, if you don&#39;t land a high-paying job at a BigLaw firm, it could leave you in soul-crushing and life-altering debt.&#160;&lt;a href=&quot;http://grad-schools.usnews.rankingsandreviews.com/best-graduate-schools/top-law-schools/grad-debt-rankings&quot; target=&quot;_blank&quot;&gt;U.S. News &amp;amp; World Report&lt;/a&gt;&#160;recently released a list of schools that prospective law students may want to avoid--those schools whose graduates leave with the most paralyzing debt. Below are the top ten law schools with the highest average law school debt for their 2016 law graduates:&lt;/p&gt;&lt;div align=&quot;center&quot;&gt;&lt;table border=&quot;1&quot; cellpadding=&quot;0&quot;&gt;&lt;tbody&gt;&lt;tr&gt;&lt;td width=&quot;44&quot; valign=&quot;top&quot;&gt;&lt;p&gt;&#160;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td width=&quot;214&quot;&gt;&lt;p&gt;Law School&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td width=&quot;142&quot;&gt;&lt;p&gt;Average Debt (of those who incurred debt)&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td width=&quot;99&quot;&gt;&lt;p&gt;Percent of grad with debt&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;/tr&gt;&lt;tr&gt;&lt;td width=&quot;44&quot; valign=&quot;top&quot;&gt;&lt;p&gt;1&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td width=&quot;214&quot;&gt;&lt;p&gt;Thomas Jefferson School of Law&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td width=&quot;142&quot;&gt;&lt;p&gt;$182,411&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td width=&quot;99&quot;&gt;&lt;p&gt;90%&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;/tr&gt;&lt;tr&gt;&lt;td width=&quot;44&quot; valign=&quot;top&quot;&gt;&lt;p&gt;2&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td width=&quot;214&quot;&gt;&lt;p&gt;Whittier College&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td width=&quot;142&quot;&gt;&lt;p&gt;$179,056&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td width=&quot;99&quot;&gt;&lt;p&gt;89%&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;/tr&gt;&lt;tr&gt;&lt;td width=&quot;44&quot; valign=&quot;top&quot;&gt;&lt;p&gt;3&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td width=&quot;214&quot;&gt;&lt;p&gt;University of San Francisco&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td width=&quot;142&quot;&gt;&lt;p&gt;$167,671&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td width=&quot;99&quot;&gt;&lt;p&gt;81%&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;/tr&gt;&lt;tr&gt;&lt;td width=&quot;44&quot; valign=&quot;top&quot;&gt;&lt;p&gt;4&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td width=&quot;214&quot;&gt;&lt;p&gt;New York University&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td width=&quot;142&quot;&gt;&lt;p&gt;$167,646&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td width=&quot;99&quot;&gt;&lt;p&gt;64%&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;/tr&gt;&lt;tr&gt;&lt;td width=&quot;44&quot; valign=&quot;top&quot;&gt;&lt;p&gt;5&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td width=&quot;214&quot;&gt;&lt;p&gt;Georgetown University&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td width=&quot;142&quot;&gt;&lt;p&gt;$166,027&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td width=&quot;99&quot;&gt;&lt;p&gt;74%&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;/tr&gt;&lt;tr&gt;&lt;td width=&quot;44&quot; valign=&quot;top&quot;&gt;&lt;p&gt;6&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td width=&quot;214&quot;&gt;&lt;p&gt;American University&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td width=&quot;142&quot;&gt;&lt;p&gt;$164,194&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td width=&quot;99&quot;&gt;&lt;p&gt;73%&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;/tr&gt;&lt;tr&gt;&lt;td width=&quot;44&quot; valign=&quot;top&quot;&gt;&lt;p&gt;7&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td width=&quot;214&quot;&gt;&lt;p&gt;Golden Gate University&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td width=&quot;142&quot;&gt;&lt;p&gt;$161,809&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td width=&quot;99&quot;&gt;&lt;p&gt;88%&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;/tr&gt;&lt;tr&gt;&lt;td width=&quot;44&quot; valign=&quot;top&quot;&gt;&lt;p&gt;8&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td width=&quot;214&quot;&gt;&lt;p&gt;Columbia University&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td width=&quot;142&quot;&gt;&lt;p&gt;$159,769&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td width=&quot;99&quot;&gt;&lt;p&gt;63%&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;/tr&gt;&lt;tr&gt;&lt;td width=&quot;44&quot; valign=&quot;top&quot;&gt;&lt;p&gt;9&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td width=&quot;214&quot;&gt;&lt;p&gt;The John Marshall Law School&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td width=&quot;142&quot;&gt;&lt;p&gt;$158,888&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td width=&quot;99&quot;&gt;&lt;p&gt;83%&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;/tr&gt;&lt;tr&gt;&lt;td width=&quot;44&quot; valign=&quot;top&quot;&gt;&lt;p&gt;10&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td width=&quot;214&quot;&gt;&lt;p&gt;Florida Coastal School of Law&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td width=&quot;142&quot;&gt;&lt;p&gt;$158,878&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td width=&quot;99&quot;&gt;&lt;p&gt;70%&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;/tr&gt;&lt;/tbody&gt;&lt;/table&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;p&gt;There&#39;s certainly a variety of law schools represented on this list. Graduates of NYU, Georgetown, and Columbia (some of the &lt;a href=&quot;/blog/vaults-law-blog-legal-careers-and-industry-news/the-best-law-schools-for-biglaw-jobs/&quot;&gt;best firms for BigLaw jobs&lt;/a&gt;))&#160;are much more likely to be in a position to pay off that debt than are graduates of Florida Coastal (where only 52% of graduates even pass teh Florida bar). 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.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&#160;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;Follow Vault Law on Twitter&#160;&lt;a href=&quot;https://twitter.com/VaultLaw&quot; target=&quot;_blank&quot;&gt;@VaultLaw&lt;/a&gt;&#160;and follow Vault on Instagram&#160;&lt;a href=&quot;http://instagram.com/vaultcareers?ref=badge&quot; target=&quot;_blank&quot;&gt;@VaultCareers&lt;/a&gt;&#160;and&#160;&lt;a href=&quot;https://www.facebook.com/Vault&quot; target=&quot;_blank&quot;&gt;Facebook&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;&#160;&lt;/p&gt;

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