Cost of Law

So, how much is a J.D. going to cost?  Well, ultimately, it depends upon the school that you obtain it from.  I’ve come up with the following statistics based upon the listed rates on the associated University websites.

Cost per credit hour:
$184.80/ch – Georgia State University*
$304.2/ch – University of Georgia*
$780/ch – John Marshall Law School
$1,150/ch – Mercer University ( decreases down to $979.17 by the 3rd year)
$1,446/ch – Emory University

*Value based on semester rate/15 credit hours.

Given the above rates for each university and that a J.D. will take ~90 credit hours, the following are the associated cost per university in total.

Total Cost:
$16,632 – Georgia State University
$27,378 – University of Georgia
$70,200 – John Marshall Law School
$103,500 – Mercer University
$130,140 – Emory University

As you can see, the two public universities (GSU and UGA) are substantially less than the three other private universities.  JMLS is substantially lower than it’s two companions, in my opinion, because it just recently obtained provisional-accreditation.

Of course, there are additional fees to take into consideration such as books and travel expenses.  Especially if you consider UGA or Mercer.  Neither have a campus in Atlanta.  UGA is located in Athens, GA and Mercer is located in Macon, GA.