Summary: The Best Value law school list by The National Jurist has several changes for the positive for law students looking to get a good value for their education.
Pursuing a law degree can get expensive and with a slow legal job market, potential law students will want to make sure they are getting the most for their money. The National Jurists’ Best Value law schools list features 60 law schools with more value than last year’s top schools.
Most of the schools on the list are public law schools in the South and Midwest. They saw improvements in employment numbers and lower debt even though bar exam pass rates were lower. The list covers a total of 201 law schools. Of those, 44 were able to achieve an A or A- score and 16 achieved a B+. Last year a total of 58 schools were able to achieve a B+ or higher rating.
Editor In Chief of The National Jurist and preLaw magazine Jack Crittenden said, “There is a greater separation of the top schools and the rest of the pack than in prior years. These schools showed stronger employment numbers and lower debt, on the whole.”
The list rates schools by comparing tuition, debt, employment rate, living expenses, and bar passage rates for the past two years when possible. There were nine new schools added to this list that were not on the list last year.
Of the new schools, Rutgers University was able to get ranked in the top 25. The school has not been featured on the list until this year because Rutgers-Camden and Rutgers-Newark merged two years ago.
Penn State University – Dickinson Law was featured on the list this year because of its separation from Penn State University in University Park, Penn in 2014. The other new additions to the list included Lincoln Memorial University, CUNY School of Law, University of Maine, Northern Kentucky Chase College of Law, and the University of Illinois. Lincoln Memorial was able to join because the law school received provisional approval from the ABA in 2014. The school was formally denied accreditation in part because of graduate employment concerns.
Two private law schools were able to rejoin the list this year – University of Richmond and Washington & Lee University.
The list lost seven schools this year. They were Boston University, UCLA Law, University of Washington, University of North Dakota, University of Akron, George Mason University, and Indiana University McKinney School of Law.
The top 20 from last year, listed in alphabetical order:
Brigham Young University
Florida State University
Georgia State University
Louisiana State University
Ohio State University
University of Alabama
University of Arkansas, Fayetteville
University of Florida Levin College of Law
University of Georgia
University of Idaho
University of Iowa
University of Kansas
University of Nebraska
University of Nevada, Las Vegas
University of New Mexico
University of South Dakota
University of Tennessee
University of Wisconsin
West Virginia University
Do you agree with the best value list? Tell us what you think in the comments below.
To learn more about law school rankings, read these articles:
- The U.S. News Law School Rankings for 2016
- How U.S. Law School Rankings Help Lower-Ranked Schools
- 2017 Law School Rankings by U.S. News & World Report
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