Mind the Gap...

...the Generation Gap, that is... As a deeply indebted law student, I read with interest the various articles about the rising costs of law school (up over 200% since 1990) and the concomitant decline in post-graduate options for law students, who are increasingly under pressure to make money fast to pay off debt. And as a law student, I am of course sympathetic to the deeply indebted students.

But in many of these articles, I am also frustrated by the reactions of many law school professors and administrators, who seem to want to blame the rising indebtedness of students on the students themselves... A representative example, from this article in the Washington Post:

"A latte a day on borrowed money? It's crazy," said Erika Lim, director of career services at the [University of Seattle] law school.

Now, I am cost conscious and made the switch to drip (and honestly, yuck). But how crazy is it, really, to want to drink a good cup of coffee, even if it comes at a higher price. As consumers and adults, law students discretionary spending habits should be better respected than this. And it turns out, the cost is not so high: the article informs us that a $3/day latte habit will cost $4,150 over ten years. This is such a marginal increase to my total debt (considering my $25,000/year law school tuition habit), that it is almost offensive that a law school administrator would consider that a serious discussion of how to counteract rising debt...

But Director Kim is not alone in her sentiment. In this otherwise very good article in the National Law Journal yesterday, Joseph Harbaugh, dean of Nova Southeastern University Shepard Broad Law Center in Fort Lauderdale, Fla. has this to say:

Would-be lawyers live too comfortably while in school and fail to make the necessary sacrifices, he said, adding that a quick look at any law school parking lot proves his point.

"The students' cars are better than the faculty and staff's cars," said Harbaugh, who is also a board member of Access Group, a nonprofit provider of student loans for graduate and professional degrees.

Student loans for discretionary living expenses are capped at a certain level depending on cost-of-living in your particular locale. Here at Berkeley, I think we get about 17,000/year. That's not a lot, certainly not enough to buy a fancy car, but my point is, that's pretty irrelevant. The cost that should most concern law school administrators is the astronomical rise in tuition and fees -- the part that law school administrators can legitimately exercise some control over and the bulk of most law students debt, rather than griping about their students' discretionary spending habits.

Comments on indebtedness and solutions invited...