The 20 American law school programs that lead graduates to the highest salaries

Fordham University Law School Fordham Law/Facebook

Earning a law degree was once a sure-fire path to a lucrative career. Law school enrollment remains high, but an oversaturation of lawyers has left graduates struggling in the job market. Even the grads who find jobs aren't guaranteed a six-figure salary, leaving many stuck under a mountain of student debt.

For its new report exploring the value of a law school degree, online lender SoFi culled data from 60,000 of its student loan refinancing applicants who self-identified as having a law degree and, on average, three years of work experience.

They used the applicants' self-reported data to determine which schools produce the highest-earning graduates and how that salary compares to the amount of student debt they incurred. About 20% of applicants reached the underwriting stage where their degree and salary were verified by SoFi.

SoFi ranked 218 law school programs, excluding schools for which they didn't have sufficient data. When ranked solely by average salary, the data shows that while banner laws schools like Harvard and Yale expectedly produce high earners, a degree from a prestigious school isn't the only ticket to big earnings.

Grads of the top-20 law schools on SoFi's list earn an average salary of $166,155 three years after graduating. And the top-3 schools — all located in New York — earn upwards of $175,000. Moreover, each school on the list leaves grads with a positive salary-to-debt ratio where they earn more money in a year than they owe in student debt.

Below, check out SoFi's ranking of the 20 law schools that lead grads to the highest salaries.

20. University of Texas at Austin

University of Texas Law/Facebook

Location: Austin, Texas

Average salary 3 years after graduation: $147,444

Average total debt: $105,254

Salary-to-debt ratio: 1.40

19. Vanderbilt University

Vanderbilt University Law School/Facebook

Location: Nashville, Tennessee

Average salary 3 years after graduation: $149,475

Average total debt: $130,130

Salary-to-debt ratio: 1.15

18. University of California at Los Angeles

UCLA School of Law/Facebook

Location: Los Angeles, California

Average salary 3 years after graduation: $152,469

Average total debt: $125,579

Salary-to-debt ratio: 1.21

See the rest of the story at Business Insider

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