By Bhavani Jaladanki – Editorial Editor

The field of law is a very important and beneficial field, considering that law is what teaches us right from wrong. Therefore, one would think that there would be a lot of people who would want to major in this crucial field, but that is not exactly true today.

The high cost of tuition and the large number of years required to go to law school in order to get a degree, is the reason many students are backing out of going to law school. Tuition costs more than $40,000 a year even though 47% of schools have increased the amount of financial aid they offer during the year of 2012-2013.

Most law schools require students to attend for three years in order to obtain a degree, which amounts to more than $120,000 for those three years. Considering that the job market is dwindling and leaving no jobs at law firms, it is not even worth it to spend so much money for a job position that may never open up.

Fortunately, in order to help law students cut down on loans and debts, states such as New York are working to cut out a year of law school. States are proposing an amendment to allow students to take the state bar exam a year earlier if they want. This way, students won’t have to pay another $40,000 for the third year, which most consider to be useless and boring anyway. The third year is so unnecessary in many cases that class attendance drops rapidly. With the new proposal, students can opt to study a third year, which will consist of internships and job experiences so that students can train for real world work situations instead of wasting time and money in a classroom for a third year. Those that don’t have money can just go to school for two years and head straight out to the work field to find a job, if there are any. Even if they don’t find a job, at least they don’t have another $40,000 to pay in student debts.

Money does not grow on trees, and all of those who are in college or about to go to college know exactly what it is like to pay thousands and thousands of dollars every year. Learning should never be costing so much money, but there is nothing we can do but accept it. At least with these new amendments, the cost of learning will reduce, and students won’t have to spend years after college spending time paying all debts. An ideal situation would be if college tuition would reduce for all majors, easing the lives of many students around the country.

(Some information courtesy ABA Journal, Law News Now)

(Photo courtesy abovethelaw.com)