How many of us lament our student loans? Paying off a high monthly bill is a hard reality to accept, especially for those who are currently struggling with assessing the worth of a debt that has yet to lead to a steady or worthwhile career.  As part of its annual rankings of colleges and universities, US News & World Report also analyzed data related to the amount of loans that students graduated with. The results are pretty interesting, but all these rankings should be read with a bit of skepticism. After all, even though a Harvard grad emerges with less debt, on average, than Clark Atlanta University grad, it should be taken into account that many Harvard students come from wealthier backgrounds, and that fact inevitably skews the numbers.

In any case here’s the list of 5 colleges with most student debt and 5 colleges with the least student debt for its undergraduate grads.

 Top 5 Colleges With Most Student Debt

5. Florida Institute of Technology
Location: Melbourne, Florida
Size of school: 5,022 undergraduate students
Percentage of graduates with debt: 65%
Average amount of debt: $41,565

by R. Asmerom

The New York Times recently posed the question “Is Law School A Losing Game?” What they found out is that for many law school grads, it is. The legal profession, like almost every industry, has been gravely impacted by the recession and it appears that more and more law graduates have not been able to land those promised jobs in their field over the past few years. According to the Times,  law schools themselves continue to tout their success rates to prospective students despite the fact that job offers are few and far between for new grads.

The disconnect between the steady pool of law students and and lack of legal jobs has a lot to do with the way law schools market themselves and smudge their statistics to make it seem like their programs offer a good value.  But with so many students coming out of school with six-figure debts and lack of opportunities, the timing is right to reassess the value of a law school education.

“I advise anyone who asks me for advice about law school that it may not be worth it unless they can attend a top-tier school,” said Ron Llewellyn, a 1999 graduate of the University of Pennsylvania Law School. “I believe that it is even more true now with firms having smaller associate classes than when I began my career over a decade ago.”

Law school tuition, even for third tier schools, can run as high as $43,000 year and that is incentive for many law programs to keep their enrollments up. “Law schools don’t want to admit that there are too many lawyers out there, it would affect the bottom line,” said Ary Rosenbaum of the Rosenbaum law firm.  “But law students have to realize that no matter how law schools may be dishonest in how they market the worth of a legal education, their career as attorneys ultimately depends on what they make of it.”

According to Forbes, the average law grad owes $100,000 in student debt.  Although debt forgiveness programs are available for those that go into public interest law, the majority of students go to law school plan on working in the private sector to guarantee higher incomes. Without knowing that their salaries may never catch up to their debts, many students are faced with being mired in debt or aggressively targeting the highest paid jobs, whether they want it or not.  Is the new approach to go into law for the love of the job?

“Don’t do any job or go into any field of study just for the money,” said Robert Taylor, Jr, a lawyer. “You should always ask yourself: if I didn’t need any money at all, would I still do this? Your ideal job is the one you would do for free if you could afford it.” Considering that law schools aren’t planning to change their approach towards marketing the potential of lucrative legal careers, maybe prospective students can change their whole approach to law school to account for the realities of the market.