Reuters
U.S. law schools are heading into a challenging year, with major financial and oversight changes on the horizon even as the application pool has soared. Here are some of the top issues law schools are watching out for in 2026.
STUDENT LOANS
Looming over all law schools this year is the question of how future students will fund their education.
Get a quick look at the days breaking legal news and analysis from The Afternoon Docket newsletter. Sign up here.
President Donald Trump’s 2025 budget bill capped annual professional degree borrowing at $50,000, with a cumulative cap of $200,000. That’s a big change for students attending the priciest law schools, who have been able to borrow their full costs under the current system.
More than half of the 197 American Bar Association-accredited law schools had full-time annual tuition above $50,000 in 2024, according to an analysis by the Law School Admission Council’s LawHub, while 29 had tuition of $70,000 or more. Those figures don’t include living costs such as food and rent.
That means many law students starting in the fall will have to find alternative funding if they max out their annual $50,000 federal borrowing limit. Experts say most will end up taking out private student loans, which could mean higher interest rates and denials for students with fewer financial resources.
The Santa Clara University School of Law in September said it will give guaranteed annual scholarships of $16,000 to all new students this year to bring its current $63,280 tuition below the new cap.
ACCREDITATION
The American Bar Association’s longstanding role as the nation’s primary law school accreditor came under fire in 2025, with attacks from the White House and a handful of Republican-led states.
Source:
