The College of Law’s affordable costs and personalized setting is one of the most ideal options for aspiring law students.

The average cost of attending a private law school is $47,112 annually, and the average cost for public in-state law school is $26,864, according to a March 2018 study by U.S News and World Report.

These prices can be overwhelming to a student who may have a passion for law but not the means to afford the tuition. Those searching for a personalized and affordable law school should consider Northern Illinois University’s College of Law as one of their top choices.

“Regardless of where you go, law school is going to be expensive, but I think the fact that it’s so much less than the Chicagoland schools has definitely helped a lot,” said junior law student Heather Fielder. “I know that there are programs that we have here where your tuition is either half covered or fully covered, so you only have to worry about your living expenses. Working here at the library, I do get a tuition waiver, so I feel very fortunate for that, and it was a deciding factor for coming here.”

The average Illinois law school tuition is $45,075.63 while in-state tuition at the NIU College of Law is less than half the average tuition, according to the NIU law website. The base tuition for NIU is only $16,254.96, and when combined with fees, the total cost of attendance is $22,179.44.

“It’s something less for us to worry about,” said sophomore law student Josiah Accola. “Compared to other law schools where you may be paying $50,000 to $60,000 a year, we are able to go off and do what we really want to do [rather than worry about costs].”

Though NIU may be seen as a smaller program when compared to other law schools with only 264 students enrolling into the College of Law in 2016, according the the NIU 2016-2017 databook, the perks of attendance are quite significant. NIU’s law school has been recognized as a “Best Value Law School” for the last four years, according to the National Jurist legal news magazine.

In addition, NIU students have an 89 percent employment rate after only ten months post-graduation, according to NIU’s website. The personalized attention given by the experienced faculty is sure to help students through their law school journey.

“I want to be a prosecutor when I get out and, unfortunately, that’s not going to make a million dollars like a contract lawyer,” said Accola. “Coming from law school, my debt is going to be very little, which means I won’t have to pick a job just because it’s going to make me money. I can pick a job that is actually what I want to do in the future.”

NIU helps educate future lawyers who can go into a field they are passionate about, rather than choosing which field will make them the most money to repay their debts. This allows those interested in legal careers to do what they’re passionate about, rather than work a higher-paying job they’d rather not just to ward off debt collectors.