Ramsey County Law Library Blog

St. Thomas – $36,483
Hamline – $36,970
William Mitchell – $37,330
U of Minnesota (resident) – $40,058
U of Minnesota (nonresident) – $47,330

The Law Librarian would like to approach the subject of student loans, precisely because her jaw hit the floor when she saw the above numbers. They are from the October 31 issue of Minnesota Lawyer, with its front page article telling how the University of St. Thomas (UST) has implemented a tuition freeze for the next two years. UST Dean Robert Vischler acknowledges that the price is still steep, but hopes that a freeze might attract quality students to UST that might otherwise go to a different law school.

Student loans are the modern albatross of our time, and not just for young graduates. This is mostly because tuition prices are significantly higher than they were back in 1978 (when bankruptcy laws were changed to make student loans non-dischargeable), and because landing a job is such a hit-and-miss prospect in today’s economy. And unless you come from a family of means, student loans are typically how you fund today’s education. If you managed to put yourself through school years back with a part-time job and no loans, congratulations to you. However, the Law Librarian is confident that no matter how you might have done it then, a typical student cannot be expected to come up with $36,000+/year working summers/evenings/weekends. To all of you who graduated from law school 10-plus years ago and are smugly patting yourselves on the back for having paid back your loans, be certain that you never saw anything like today’s tuition prices. And don’t say it’s not your problem. Today’s young graduates are curtailing their plans for such rites of passage as  home ownership and children. Do you benefit from an economy that depends on a robust housing market? Do you benefit from an economy that depends on the next robust generation of future taxpayers to fund Medicare and Social Security and all the rest? Then this IS your problem. It belongs to all of us.

To this problem, the Law Librarian offers no simple solution. But borrowers might take a look at the downloadable 60+ Ways to Get Rid Of Your Student Loans (Without Paying Them). Here is also a page of webinars about loan forgiveness.