Posted at: 09/19/2012 8:13 PM
Updated at: 09/19/2012 8:26 PM
By: Todd Wilson

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High Tuition, Weak Job Market Keeping Law School Enrollment Down

Jennah Bordson is in her second year of law school at St. Thomas University. She says, ever since high school she's always had a thing for the law.

"Listening to supreme court hearings, holdings and briefs was fascinating," Bordson said.

But Bordson admits, the pursuit of her dream job is complicated by a weak job market and high tuition.

"It's a huge factor that played into whether or not I wanted to go to law school," Bordson said.

According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, nearly twelve thousand legal jobs vanished in 2008, more than forty-one thousand in 2009 and two thousand seven hundred in 2010.

As a result law schools at the University of Minnesota, Hamline University and University of St. Thomas are seeing. . .A decrease in applicants.

Cari Haaland, who works at St. Thomas says, applicants have a lot to think about before applying.

"Perspective students are thinking critically about whether or not it makes sense to make the investment and some are deciding it doesn't make sense to them and others are deciding they are going to work for a while," Haaland said.

From 2011 to 2012 Hamline saw a twenty percent decrease in law school applications, University of St. Thomas eighteen percent and the U of M, seventeen percent.

In response, the U of M is accepting fewer students for its program and increased it's financial aid offerings.

University of St. Thomas has not laid off any staff or faculty and Hamline says its adjusting it's curriculum to the changing times.