Just 9 years ago, tuition at UC Berkeley Law was $11,000/year for in-state and $21,000 for out-of-state. Flash forward to 2010, and you are looking at $44,220/year for in-state and $52,220 for out-of-state for ONE YEAR. So if you graduated in 2001, you could have graduated with a law degree for under $33,000 for three years, which is a fraction of what you would pay now for ONE YEAR!!
Something is disturbingly wrong with this picture. How is it that we freak out when gas prices go up a few cents at the pump, but we as a society are so complacent when tuition at one of the nation's premier law schools jump 250% in less than a decade? Would anyone be okay with a gallon of gas rising from $3 to $10 in 9 years? Or milk? Or any other good on the face of the planet? Why is it that demand for law school is so inelastic to the point that these schools can raise prices as much as they want and still know that thousands of students will still apply each year and continue to pay what is now over $150,000 in tuition alone (and rising)?
Unfortunately this is not isolated to law schools. Cost of higher education is going up across the board even though the job market is completely saturated and the value of one's degree is steadily going down as competition increases. It is unfortunate that people have to essentially mortgage their lives to go to school nowadays. Something desperately needs to be done.