10 Law Schools That Leave Grads With the Least Debt

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With high costs and still-shaky job prospects, law school remains a risky investment.

Within 10 months of graduation, just 71 percent of the class of 2014 landed long-term, full-time jobs for which bar passage was required or a J.D. was preferred, according to data from the American Bar Association.

Meanwhile, students in the class of 2014 who borrowed to pay for law school took on an average $111,899 in debt, according to data submitted to U.S. News by 182 ranked institutions.

But not every law school will land students with six figures in debt. Borrowers at these 10 law schools tended to have lower student loan balances -- taking on an average $62,989 in debt, according to U.S. News data.

[Discover 10 ways to get financially ready for law school.]

The school with the lowest debt is Utah's Brigham Young University, where borrowers in the class of 2014 graduated with just $54,203 in debt. At BYU, which is led by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, tuition and fees ran $11,620 per year for Mormon law students in 2014-2015 and $23,240 for non-Mormons.

The University of Alabama, tied at No. 22 among law schools, is the highest ranked school to make the list. Student loan borrowers in the class of 2014 graduated with $69,440.

[Learn how to use rankings and statistics to narrow your law school choices.]

The following law schools had the least debt for the class of 2014 among graduates who borrowed. Schools designated by U.S. News as Unranked were excluded from this list. U.S. News did not calculate numerical ranks for Unranked programs because they did not meet certain criteria that U.S. News requires.

School name (state)	Average debt load, class of 2014	U.S. News law school rank
Brigham Young University (Clark) (UT)	$54,203	34 (tie)
University of Hawaii--Manoa (Richardson)	$56,266	82 (tie)
North Carolina Central University	$58,061	RNP*
University of Nebraska--Lincoln	$62,985	56 (tie)
University of Arkansas--Fayetteville	$63,541	75 (tie)
University of North Dakota	$64,818	138 (tie)
University of Tennessee--Knoxville	$66,201	52 (tie)
University of Wyoming	$67,087	108 (tie)
University of Missouri	$67,289	59 (tie)
University of Alabama	$69,440	22 (tie)

*RNP denotes an institution that is ranked in the bottom one-fourth of all law schools. U.S. News calculates a rank for the school but has decided not to publish it.

Don't see your school in the top 10? Access the U.S. News Law School Compass to find debt data, complete rankings and much more. School officials can access historical data and rankings, including of peer institutions, via U.S. News Academic Insights.

U.S. News surveyed 201 ABA-accredited law schools for our 2014 survey of law programs. Schools self-reported myriad data regarding their academic programs and student debt, among other areas, making U.S. News' data the most accurate and detailed collection of college facts and figures of its kind. While U.S. News uses much of this survey data to rank schools for our annual Best Law Schools rankings, the data can also be useful when examined on a smaller scale. U.S. News will now produce lists of data, separate from the overall rankings, meant to provide students and parents a means to find which schools excel, or have room to grow, in specific areas that are important to them. While the data come from the schools themselves, these lists are not related to, and have no influence over, U.S. News' rankings of Best Colleges, Best Graduate Schools or Best Online Programs. The debt data above are correct as of Sept. 1, 2015.