.png)
The best value T14 law schools question has a cleaner answer than rankings suggest: divide each school's median net cost by its BigLaw placement rate and the order changes completely. On that measure Texas A&M, Georgia and BYU beat every T14 school, and inside the T14 itself Michigan and Duke lead. All 31 schools below.
Value here means net cost per point of large-firm placement, which is the crudest honest proxy for what the degree buys. Net cost is the school's own cost of attendance minus its own median grant.
#SchoolAnnual COAMedian grantNet per yearFirms 101+3-year net1BYU$38,428$11,646$26,78234.6%$80,3462Georgia$44,022$19,460$24,56228.8%$73,6863Ohio State$60,955$29,984$30,97135.0%$92,9134Texas$63,634$23,375$40,25943.8%$120,7775WashU$102,287$48,000$54,28753.5%$162,8616Duke$113,428$35,000$78,42874.8%$235,2847Northwestern$117,452$40,000$77,45271.6%$232,3568Penn$120,294$42,246$78,04871.4%$234,1449UVA$111,420$35,000$76,42069.2%$229,26010Columbia$119,944$32,000$87,94478.4%$263,83211Wisconsin$63,242$35,000$28,24225.1%$84,72612USC$118,246$40,092$78,15467.8%$234,46213UNC$62,496$17,000$45,49638.3%$136,48814Michigan$103,566$32,000$71,56659.5%$214,69815UCLA$99,130$24,456$74,67460.8%$224,02216Berkeley$108,562$31,158$77,40462.2%$232,21217Wake Forest$89,783$40,000$49,78339.2%$149,34918Vanderbilt$113,733$32,792$80,94161.1%$242,82319Cornell$118,364$30,000$88,36465.5%$265,09220BU$100,920$29,000$71,92052.3%$215,76021Boston College$104,768$24,000$80,76856.8%$242,30422Georgetown$124,600$35,000$89,60061.6%$268,80023Stanford$125,124$52,797$72,32748.9%$216,98124NYU$120,046$20,000$100,04667.4%$300,13825Texas A&M$61,508$26,048$35,46023.4%$106,38026Harvard$121,250$27,510$93,74058.8%$281,22027Minnesota$82,558$35,000$47,55828.8%$142,67428UChicago$122,034$15,000$107,03463.9%$321,10229Notre Dame$99,420$30,000$69,42040.9%$208,26030Yale$109,040$34,747$74,29337.4%$222,87931GW$114,097$28,000$86,09732.5%$258,291
Sources: each school's 2025 ABA 509 report and class of 2025 ABA Employment Summary, verified July 26, 2026. Net cost and three-year figures are our arithmetic, before interest and before annual increases. Public school figures use resident rates.
Michigan and Duke, on this measure, and for different reasons. Michigan posts a resident cost of attendance of $103,566 against a $32,000 median grant reaching 91 percent of students, and places 59.5 percent into firms of 101 or more attorneys.
Duke's grant reaches 94 percent of its students at a $35,000 median while placing 74.8 percent into large firms, the highest BigLaw rate of any school in this set after Columbia.
The expensive end of the T14 is expensive in a specific way. UChicago's median grant is $15,000, the lowest in the T14, against a $122,034 cost of attendance, so its median student pays close to sticker.
By raw cost of attendance, BYU at $38,428 for LDS members, Georgia at $44,022 for residents, and Ohio State at $60,955 for residents.
By net cost after the median grant, the order shifts again, because schools discount very differently. WashU's $48,000 median grant is the largest in this set and moves it materially down the net-cost column.
Residency is the single largest lever in the table. Georgia at resident rates and Georgia at nonresident rates are effectively different schools financially, and the same is true of UNC, Texas, Wisconsin and Ohio State.
Federal loan caps for professional programs took effect July 1, 2026 at $50,000 annually and $200,000 lifetime, and Grad PLUS was discontinued (https://www.accesslex.org/blog/how-obbbas-student-loan-caps-could-reshape-law-school-affordability-and-access). The caps come from the Reimagining and Improving Student Education final rule, published May 1, 2026 and effective July 1, 2026, which attributes them to the Working Families Tax Cuts Act (https://www.federalregister.gov/documents/2026/05/01/2026-08556/reimagining-and-improving-student-education-federal-student-loan-program-final-regulations).
Look down the annual COA column against that $50,000 line. Most of these schools now cost more per year than federal lending will cover, which means the gap has to come from scholarship, savings, family or private credit.
Private credit carries none of the income-driven repayment or forgiveness protections federal loans do. That converts the net-cost column from an interesting comparison into a financing constraint.
It cannot tell you your net cost, because your award depends on where your numbers sit against each school's medians. The median grant is a midpoint, and half of recipients got less.
It also treats BigLaw placement as the definition of value, which is right for some readers and wrong for others. A student headed for government or public interest should read the public interest table instead, where guaranteed summer funding and loan repayment assistance matter more than firm placement.
And it ignores geography entirely. A school placing 40 percent into large firms in the market where you want to practice may be worth more to you than one placing 70 percent somewhere you will not live.
Michigan combines a resident cost of attendance near $103,566 with a $32,000 median grant reaching 91 percent of students and 59.5 percent large-firm placement. That combination of breadth and outcome is what puts it at the top of the T14 on this measure.
Duke discounts more widely than almost any school here, reaching 94 percent of students at a $35,000 median, while placing 74.8 percent into firms of 101 or more attorneys and employing 99.6 percent at ten months.
Outside the T14 the value case is stronger still. Texas A&M places 23.4 percent into large firms at a resident cost of $61,508, and Georgia places 28.8 percent at $44,022. Lower outcomes at dramatically lower cost is a real trade, not a consolation.
At the other end, UChicago's $15,000 median grant is the smallest in the T14 against a $122,034 budget, so its median student pays close to sticker for a 63.9 percent large-firm rate and the second-highest clerkship rate in this set.
Treating the median grant as your offer. It is a midpoint, and half of recipients received less. Your award tracks where your numbers sit against each school's medians, which is a different calculation entirely.
Comparing public and private schools without fixing residency. Every public school in this table has two prices, and the gap can exceed $20,000 a year. A nonresident at a public school is often paying private-school money for public-school placement.
Reading large-firm placement as the definition of value. For a government or public interest path the relevant columns are guaranteed summer funding and loan repayment assistance, which our public interest table covers and this one ignores entirely.
Every number in the table comes from a primary disclosure: each school's 2025 ABA Standard 509 Information Report for admissions, cost and aid, and its class of 2025 ABA Employment Summary for outcomes. Both are filed annually and both are free to read.
We did not use rankings, surveys or reputation. Where a figure required arithmetic, such as a percentage or a net cost, we state that it is our arithmetic and give the inputs so you can check it.
Where we could not verify something, the table says so rather than filling the gap with an estimate. That is why some rows read not published or not verified instead of carrying a number that would look more complete and mean less.
It cannot tell you your outcome. Every figure here describes a class of several hundred people, and your position inside that distribution is set by first-year grades that have not happened yet.
It cannot price your offer, because aid depends on where your numbers sit against each school's medians rather than on the median award. Half of every school's grant recipients got less than the figure shown.
And it cannot capture fit, culture, or whether you will do your best work in that building for three years. Those are discoverable only by visiting and asking current students specific questions, which is worth more than any table on this site.
Take each school's cost of attendance, subtract the grant you were actually offered rather than the median, multiply by three, and divide by the outcome rate you care about. That is the whole calculation.
Then adjust for market. A school placing 45 percent into large firms in the city you want to live in may beat one placing 70 percent somewhere you will not, because your realistic hire pool is the local one.
And adjust for the federal cap. Any annual gap above $50,000 has to be financed privately now, so a school whose net cost sits under the cap has a structural advantage that no outcome column captures.
Michigan and Duke, measured as net cost per point of large-firm placement. Michigan combines a resident cost of attendance near $103,566 with a $32,000 median grant reaching 91 percent of students; Duke reaches 94 percent of students and places 74.8 percent into firms of 101 or more attorneys.
By raw cost of attendance, BYU for LDS members at about $38,428, then Georgia for residents at about $44,022 and Ohio State for residents near $60,955. Residency status is the largest single lever in the comparison.
WashU posts the largest median grant in this set at $48,000, followed by Stanford at $52,797 to half its students and Penn at $42,246. Percentage receiving matters as much as size: BYU reaches 98 percent and UNC 95 percent.
Yes. Since July 1, 2026, federal borrowing for professional programs is capped at $50,000 a year and $200,000 lifetime with Grad PLUS eliminated, so any school whose cost of attendance exceeds $50,000 now has a gap that scholarship, savings or private credit must fill.
Written by Ali, Georgetown Law, founder of Lovare Institut.
July 30, 2026
July 30, 2026