The rising costs of law school, coupled with the limits on graduate student loan borrowing in the One Big Beautiful Bill, have caused massive anxiety among students. According to a recent survey of aspiring pre-law students, a staggering 97% said they are concerned about the cost of law school to some degree. Nearly 43% said they expect to graduate with $100,000 or more in debt.
But the question isn’t only whether students can afford law school.
The bigger concern is whether substantial debt will steer talented graduates away from meaningful but lower-paying legal work in public interest law, legal aid and advocacy. When cost dictates career choices, the legal profession loses the people it needs most. For students at a public, access-oriented university like UW-Milwaukee, that financial pressure carries significant consequences.
UWM’s Pre-Law Program
UWM’s pre-law program is housed within the College of Letters & Science as a pre-professional program rather than a standalone major. Students declare a primary major in fields like political science, philosophy, history or English and receive advising focused on course selection, LSAT preparation and the law school application process.
A dedicated pre-law advisor helps students plan their undergraduate programs around skills such as written and verbal communication, analytical reasoning, research and intellectual curiosity. The program also connects students with external resources from the Law School Admission Council, the Council on Legal Education Opportunities and the American Bar Association.
That advising structure covers the skills needed to get into law school. Where UWM can go further is helping pre-law students understand what happens financially once they arrive.
Marquette University Law School
Many UWM pre-law students choose to pursue legal education at Marquette University Law School, the only ABA-accredited law school in Milwaukee.
Marquette offers 19 academic programs, ranging from sports law and water law to public interest law and alternative dispute resolution, along with a part-time option and joint-degree pathways. The school’s legal clinics serve the Milwaukee community and give students hands-on experience.
But Marquette is a private institution, and the cost of the three-year JD program is $159,030 in tuition alone.
A UWM student who chose a public university for its affordability may not be prepared for the financial commitment required of law school.
UWM should incorporate financial literacy into its pre-law advising track. Counselors should walk students through the total cost of attendance at their target schools, the true value of different scholarship offers relative to sticker price, loan repayment timelines by legal specialty and realistic earning projections for the Wisconsin legal market.
Many students enter graduate education without a clear picture of how debt compounds or how career choices interact with repayment. That gap between ambition and financial reality is where the profession loses public interest lawyers, legal aid attorneys and advocates who chose law for the right reasons but couldn’t afford to stay in those roles.
According to the same survey by Juris Education, a national law school admissions consulting firm, 65% of prospective students said they would consider a two-year law program if given the choice.
Accelerated JD Programs
Accelerated JD programs and hybrid pathways can reduce the total cost of a degree. UWM’s pre-law advising should equip students to evaluate these emerging options alongside traditional three-year programs so they can make enrollment decisions based on full information rather than assumptions.
UWM’s Center for Student Experience and Talent offers general career advising through both appointments and drop-in hours. UWM should strengthen the connection between SET and the pre-law program, so students receive coordinated guidance that covers not just application strategy but also career planning and financial preparation for the legal profession.
UWM should create partnerships with Marquette Law that give UWM pre-law students direct access to financial aid workshops, scholarship information sessions and honest conversations with current law students about the financial realities of legal education.
The increasing cost of a law degree now raises questions of access, fairness and who gets to shape the future of the legal profession. UWM serves Milwaukee’s communities by making higher education affordable and accessible. That mission should extend to ensuring pre-law students don’t arrive at law school financially unprepared for a system that was already expensive before federal loan caps made it worse.
Arush Chandna is the co-founder of Juris Education, a leading law school admissions consulting firm.