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Iowa Law Review

96 Iowa L. Rev. (2010-2011)

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 The Viability of the Law Degree:
 Cost, Value, and Intrinsic Worth
 Richard A. Matasar*
 [S]tudents must bear the brunt of financing the expansion of new
 educational programs. The bad news is that students may not be as
 willing to do so today as they have been over the last decade.
 During that time, students have been able to finance their
 increasing educational cost by gambling that a strong placement
 market-with lots ofjobs and firms that absorb increasing numbers
 of new graduates at ever-higher salaries-will always exist.
 Unfortunately for the gamblers, that era seems to be ending.'
 For years the law school market has been protected from fears that
 they are pricing their product out of the out of reach for most
 students....
 ... [T]his financial model has come under some stress.... Most
 importantly, for many students, the legal employment market is too
 soft to support debt. Some ... have problems finding any legal job
 within nine months of graduation. Those who fail the bar
 examination are especially hard hit, but are joined by many other
 colleagues who have not done well in school. Others may find jobs,
 but at modest salaries. Even those making the highest salaries find
 that the debt that they have accumulated while in school may tax
 them for years ....
 These financial pressures may soon challenge the capacity of law
 schools to continue to raise their prices. If so, it may undermine
 the current model for American legal education ... . In essence,
 we may be reaching the end of the golden era for law schools,
 
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 * President, Dean, and Professor of Law, New York Law School. B.A. 974, J.D. 1977,
 University of Pennsylvania.
 i. Richard A. Matasar, The MacCrate Report from the Dean's Perspective, i CLINICAL L. REV.
 457, 467 (1994) (discussing the economics of legal education in 1994).