A law degree in Louisiana offers graduate students the fifth best return on investment among the 50 states, based on criteria such as tuition costs, job prospects, cost of living and potential future earnings, a new study concludes.
California-based Uplift Legal Funding, a company that provides lawsuit loans, gave Louisiana a final score on its law degree value of 7.05 out of 10. The only states finishing higher were No. 1 New York, Illinois, Florida and Virginia.
In the top-performing states, new law school graduates were found to be able to more easily recoup their education costs than students in other states. Uplift Legal Funding designated Tulane University in New Orleans as the state`s top law school, but other law schools in the state include Louisiana State University`s Paul Hebert Law Center in Baton Rouge, Loyola University New Orleans College of Law and the Southern University Law Center in Baton Rouge.
Madeleine Landrieu, dean of the Loyola University College of Law, said she was not surprised that Louisiana performed well in the ranking.
“The legal community here in Louisiana is a good one,” Landrieu said in an email to the Louisiana Record. “Our applications tell us that college graduates and professionals in other careers are showing more interest in law school. Our graduates are going on to do good and meaningful work.”
The Uplift Legal Funding study found that Louisiana performed best in the area of financial aid for law school students. The state also came in 16th in the category of job prospects; degree affordability, seventh; academic success, 29th; college life quality, 32nd; cost of living, 31st; and health and well-being, ninth.
The latter category includes mental wellness, on-the-job happiness and stress levels of working attorneys.
Uplift Legal Funding’s founder, Jared Stern, said rankings that simply look at median annual earnings several years after graduation don’t tell the full story about where law degrees are worth the most.
“Although research comparing average earnings to tuition fees reveals where it’s easiest to pay off debt, it doesn’t paint the full picture, as it won’t account for living costs, job opportunities or lacking financial aid – all of which can hold newly qualified lawyers back,” Stern said in a prepared statement.