Not all lawyers are rich. However, some certainly are.
People with law degrees are widely believed to belong to top bracket earners in America. Truly, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics of the U.S. Department of Labor, salaried lawyers earned an average of $110,590 a year in 2008. Still, the costs of attesting law school can also be high. Accordingly, if you need to find out how much law degrees are really worth, you must analyze both the costs involved in getting a law degree and the earning power such a degree brings.
Earnings
There are wide disparities in how much people with a law degree earn. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, lawyers are best remunerated if they work in management of companies and enterprises, bringing home an average income of $145,770 in 2008. Least paid are lawyers employed by state and local governments, earning $78,540 and $82,590, respectively. Lawyers working in the legal services sector earn about $116,550.
Price of Education
Law schools are costly. The costs of a J.D. degree at a first-tier university can exceed $150,000 as of 2011 at the Columbia Law School, the most expensive law school in the country, according to the Internet Legal Research Group. However, there are also many cheaper options. Variations in tuition fees, largely correlate with the quality of teaching and the prestige of the school. For one year of full-time graduate studies, the Columbia Law School charges $43,470 and Yale asks for $43,750 while the University of of Arkansas-Fayetteville and Washburn University charge $677 and $750, respectively, according to ILRG. In addition, you need to factor in the costs of getting a bachelor's degree --- a prerequisite for entrance into a law school.
Living Expenses
In addition to tuition fees, students also need to pay for their accommodation, food, study materials and other expenses. Generally, these costs are higher in the Northeast, driving up to the costs of a law degree at the most expensive schools that happen to be located there. Living expenses range from $5,600 at the University of Georgia to $17,497 at Harvard University, as of 2011, according to ILRG.
Opportunity Costs
However, tuition fees and living expenses are not the only costs of getting a law degree. You also need to estimate the earning a person enrolled in full-time studies would have earned had he been employed instead of studying for seven years --- four at college and another three at law school. If the person earns $1,500 a month, he forgoes earnings of $1,500 x 12 x 7 = $126,000.
Tags: tuition fees, according ILRG, also need, Bureau Labor, Bureau Labor Statistics, Columbia School