"A decade ago, it seemed like law school tuition would follow Bitcoin straight to the moon. We all warned that the relentless cycle of increases would eventually divert talented prospective lawyers who realize that they have career options that don't involve effectively buying a second house worth of debt. And so, with total cost of attendance over three years at the very top schools capping out at a little over $325,000, the fever may have finally broke."
"These places still happily fleece 22-year-olds who haven't yet learned the difference between Erie and Eeyore. The collapse is happening because demand is collapsing. As schools pushed the price higher and higher, they naturally cut off access to more and more students. Some tried to justify high tuition as part of an effort to offset tuition breaks for those who couldn't afford it, but the reality was a self-perpetuating cycle of making school less affordable to cover up the fact that it was less affordable."
Law school tuition growth has largely stalled since 2015, with a reported real increase of only 3.8% at the top law school between 2015–16 and 2025–26. Historical inflation-adjusted data show much larger jumps in prior decades, but nominal tuition reached $82,560 in 2025–26 while total three-year cost at top schools previously approached $325,000. The primary driver of the recent plateau is collapsing demand rather than institutional generosity. High sticker prices prompted increasing discounting and reduced access, producing lower net tuition relative to sticker prices, with net tuition around 79% of sticker fifteen years ago.
Read at Above the Law
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