Louisiana has four ABA-approved law schools with very different value propositions: Tulane, LSU, Loyola New Orleans, and Southern University Law Center. Tulane has the strongest national employment reach and the highest current entering credentials. LSU is the public flagship and, for Louisiana residents, offers a dramatically lower sticker price. Loyola is a private New Orleans school with civil- and common-law tracks plus an evening option. Southern is a public HBCU in Baton Rouge and describes itself as having the lowest in-state tuition rate in Louisiana.
That makes “the best law school in Louisiana” a market-and-price decision, not an LSAT-median contest. Tulane is the strongest default for national portability; LSU is the strongest default value for a Louisiana resident; Loyola can make sense when scholarship aid brings its New Orleans private-school cost into range; Southern deserves separate consideration for affordability, access, HBCU mission, and Baton Rouge/Louisiana practice.
This guide uses current 2026 entering-class data where schools have published it, current 2026–27 tuition where available, and the latest Class of 2025 employment information. Where a school has not yet posted an equivalent 2026 profile, we label the year rather than blending old and new figures.
| School | Current LSAT / GPA median | Current tuition signal | Employment / market signal |
|---|---|---|---|
| Tulane Law | 164 / 3.75 (Fall 2026) | $77,608 tuition + fees (2026–27) | 2025 graduates spread across Louisiana, New York, Texas; meaningful large-firm and federal-clerkship placement |
| LSU Law | 159 / 3.75 (Fall 2026) | $25,966 resident; $41,406 nonresident tuition + fees (2026–27) | 2025 employment heavily Louisiana-centered; strong state-market value and civil/common-law training |
| Loyola New Orleans | 154 / 3.47 (Fall 2025) | $57,994 tuition + fees (2026–27) | School reports 93% of 2025 JD graduates employed within 10 months; New Orleans-oriented, FT and evening JD |
| Southern University Law Center | 147 / 3.15 (Fall 2025) | Public; school states it has Louisiana’s lowest in-state law tuition | Baton Rouge / Louisiana access, public-service mission, HBCU network, full- and part-time enrollment |
The numbers are deliberately not converted into a 1–4 “quality score.” A Louisiana resident choosing between Tulane at high net cost and LSU at low net cost is answering a different question from an applicant targeting New York BigLaw or a student choosing a part-time path.
Tulane has the strongest case when national portability is the priority. Its current entering class is the most selective in the state, and its 2025 employment report shows meaningful dispersion beyond Louisiana: the three largest employment locations were Louisiana (46 graduates), New York (38), and Texas (38). Forty-one graduates entered firms with 501+ lawyers, and 15 entered federal clerkships.
LSU has the strongest case when Louisiana practice and cost discipline are the priority. The Fall 2026 class median rose to 159 LSAT and 3.75 GPA, while current resident tuition and fees remain roughly one-third of Tulane’s. In the 2025 employment report, 120 graduates worked in Louisiana and 29 in Texas.
Loyola belongs in the comparison when you want New Orleans, an evening option, civil/common-law flexibility, or a scholarship materially changes its net price. Loyola reports that 82% of its 2026 1L class received scholarships, which means the $57,994 sticker figure should not be treated as the likely price for every admitted student.
Southern is a different value proposition. It is a public HBCU in Baton Rouge with full- and part-time enrollment and a mission tied strongly to opportunity and public service. Applicants should evaluate it using current tuition, scholarship, attrition, bar, and employment disclosures rather than treating access-oriented admissions as a reason to ignore outcomes.
Tulane’s Fall 2026 entering class reports a 164 median LSAT and 3.75 median GPA, with LSAT percentiles of 159/164/165 and GPA percentiles of 3.53/3.75/3.83. The class size is 234, and only 16% of the entering class is from Louisiana—an important clue that Tulane operates as more than a Louisiana-only school.
The employment data reinforces that point. Of 214 Class of 2025 graduates, 202 were employed in reported positions. The largest employment locations were Louisiana (46), New York (38), and Texas (38). In law firms, 41 graduates entered firms with 501+ attorneys; another 12 entered firms of 251–500 or 101–250 lawyers. Fifteen graduates entered federal clerkships.
That portability is the main reason Tulane can be rational at a higher price for some students. But the price is real. Tulane’s 2026–27 standard JD cost-of-attendance sheet lists $72,362 in tuition and $5,246 in institutional fees, for $77,608 in tuition and fees. The full estimated cost of attendance is $108,114 before any aid.
Do not pay that because Tulane is “ranked higher.” Pay a premium only if the employment access, specialty, geography, scholarship package, or national optionality justifies the extra debt for your plan.
See Tulane’s current class profile and ABA disclosures.
LSU’s Fall 2026 1L class has a 159 median LSAT and 3.75 median GPA, both up from the prior entering class. Louisiana residents make up 68% of the class.
Cost is LSU’s defining strategic advantage. For 2026–27, LSU lists annual tuition and fees of $25,966.40 for Louisiana residents and $41,406.40 for nonresidents. The school estimates total annual cost of attendance at $53,000.40 for residents and $68,440.40 for nonresidents.
Employment is correspondingly Louisiana-centered. In LSU’s Class of 2025 report, 177 of 198 graduates were employed in reported positions. Of the geographic outcomes, 120 were in Louisiana, 29 in Texas, and 5 in Tennessee. The report shows 166 graduates in bar-admission-required or anticipated roles, nine federal clerkships, and eleven state/local clerkships.
LSU’s curriculum also has a Louisiana-specific feature that is easy to underweight: its J.D./Comparative Law structure and civil-law expertise. Louisiana is the country’s major mixed civil/common-law jurisdiction, so that training can matter for students committed to state practice. LSU also houses an energy-law center and mineral-law institute, which can be relevant in the Gulf energy market.
For a Louisiana resident, Tulane needs to provide a substantial incremental benefit—or a large scholarship—before LSU’s cost advantage stops being the dominant fact.
See LSU’s Fall 2026 class update, 2026–27 tuition, and employment disclosures.
Loyola’s current admissions page reports a 154 median LSAT and 3.47 median GPA for the 2025 1L class. It also reports that 93% of 2025 JD graduates were employed within ten months and that 82% of the 2026 1L class received scholarships.
The 2026–27 full-time JD sticker is $56,124 tuition plus $1,870 in general fees, or $57,994 in direct tuition and fees. Loyola also operates an evening JD, with current annual tuition and fees lower than the full-time program.
This is where scholarship-adjusted comparison becomes essential. At full sticker, Loyola costs more than twice LSU’s resident tuition-and-fee figure. If Loyola offers substantial merit aid, the comparison can become much closer. Applicants interested in New Orleans, public interest, civil law, environmental work, or a part-time/evening path should compare the actual package rather than dismissing the school from the sticker alone.
Loyola’s full- and evening-JD offerings also make it relevant to applicants whose work or family constraints make a conventional full-time program difficult.
See Loyola’s current admissions profile and 2026–27 cost of attendance.
Southern University Law Center’s 2025 Standard 509 profile reports a 147 median LSAT and 3.15 median GPA, with LSAT percentiles of 145/147/150 and GPA percentiles of 2.86/3.15/3.48.
SULC is a public HBCU in Baton Rouge and has both full-time and part-time students. The school’s financial-aid site describes SULC as having the lowest in-state tuition rate in Louisiana. Because its online tuition schedule is term-based and can change, applicants should pull the current Fall/Spring schedule directly rather than relying on an old annual number from a roundup.
Affordability is only one part of the analysis. SULC applicants should read the latest Standard 509 report for attrition and scholarships, the latest ABA employment report, and current bar-passage disclosures before deciding. A lower entry cost is valuable only when evaluated alongside the probability of completing the degree and reaching the legal job you want.
Southern’s Baton Rouge location, public-service orientation, and HBCU network can be meaningful advantages for applicants who specifically want that community and market.
See SULC’s ABA disclosures and current tuition schedule.
| If your priority is... | Start by looking harder at... | Why |
|---|---|---|
| National portability / New York / Texas / large firms | Tulane | Its 2025 employment geography and 501+ firm placement are materially more nationally distributed. |
| Louisiana practice at lower sticker cost | LSU | Resident tuition + fees are about $25.97k versus Tulane’s $77.61k before aid. |
| Civil-law / Louisiana state practice | LSU | Deep institutional focus on Louisiana’s mixed civil/common-law system. |
| National optionality but Tulane scholarship narrows cost | Compare net price | A strong Tulane award can materially change the debt-versus-portability tradeoff. |
| Energy / Gulf market | Compare both | Both operate in the Gulf legal economy; LSU has dedicated energy/mineral-law infrastructure, while Tulane has broader national portability. |
There is no serious reason to decide this from a 164 versus 159 median alone.
A lot.
At current sticker, the annual tuition-and-fee gap between LSU resident pricing and Tulane is roughly $51,642. Over three years, even before tuition increases and financing costs, that creates a six-figure difference.
That does not automatically make LSU the right school. If Tulane opens an employment market you actually intend to use—or offers a scholarship that closes much of the gap—the premium can become rational. But a student planning ordinary Louisiana private practice or government work should model the debt burden against the actual salary path before paying for national portability they may never use.
Tulane and Loyola place you in New Orleans. LSU and Southern place you in Baton Rouge. These are not interchangeable backdrops.
New Orleans offers a larger private-sector ecosystem, maritime work, tourism/hospitality matters, federal practice, local government, and a distinct regional business community. Tulane adds national recruiting on top of that.
Baton Rouge is the state capital. Government, regulatory, legislative, administrative, public-sector, and state-level litigation opportunities are naturally more concentrated there. LSU and Southern benefit from proximity to those institutions.
If you already know your preferred first market, let that constrain the comparison before you let a national ranking expand it again.
Louisiana’s private-law tradition differs from the common-law systems used by the other states. Schools in Louisiana therefore offer civil-law coursework and pathways that may matter for in-state practice.
LSU is particularly explicit about its comparative-law identity. Loyola also offers civil- and common-law curricular tracks. Tulane exposes students to Louisiana law while operating as a more nationally oriented school.
For an applicant who knows they want to practice primarily outside Louisiana, civil-law specialization should not drive the entire school choice. For an applicant committed to Louisiana, it is part of the actual professional training—not merely an interesting elective.
| Current median | School | Strategic reading |
|---|---|---|
| 164 | Tulane (2026) | Highest current median in the state; scores around/above this create stronger numerical positioning but do not guarantee admission. |
| 159 | LSU (2026) | Current class strengthened from the prior year; a score around 159 is near the current midpoint. |
| 154 | Loyola (2025) | Current published admissions page still reports 2025 median; verify any Fall 2026 update before relying on it. |
| 147 | Southern (2025) | Latest 509 median; read alongside GPA, scholarships, attrition, bar and employment data. |
Medians are not minimums. The useful question is where you sit relative to the full 25th/50th/75th distribution and what a stronger score could do for both admission and scholarship leverage.
Because the sticker prices are so different, scholarship strategy can reorder the state.
LSU states that more than 75% of its Fall 2025 incoming class received merit-based aid, with awards ranging from partial to full tuition. Loyola says 82% of its 2026 1L class received scholarships. Tulane also awards merit aid, and Southern offers need- and merit-based scholarships.
Do not compare only the dollar amount of the awards. Compare:
Once you have actual offers, use our law-school scholarship negotiation guide.
Tulane. The current employment distribution is unusually clear: among its 2025 graduates, the three largest job locations were Louisiana, New York, and Texas, with New York and Texas tied at 38 each. Its large-firm and federal-clerkship numbers also show a broader national footprint.
LSU travels, particularly into Texas, but remains much more Louisiana-centered: 120 of the 177 reported employed graduates in its 2025 employment summary worked in Louisiana.
Loyola and Southern should generally be evaluated as more regional unless your own grades, network, prior experience, or specific employer connection provides a different route.
Tulane has the strongest current case for national portability; LSU has the strongest current public-value case for Louisiana residents. Loyola and Southern can be rational choices depending on scholarship, format, location, and career goals.
Tulane places more broadly across national markets and large firms, while LSU is dramatically cheaper for Louisiana residents and is deeply tied to Louisiana practice. Compare your scholarship-adjusted cost and intended market rather than deciding from medians alone.
Tulane’s Fall 2026 entering class reports a 164 median LSAT, with a 159 25th percentile and 165 75th percentile. Those are enrolled-class percentiles, not cutoffs.
LSU’s Fall 2026 entering class has a 159 median LSAT. The school’s detailed 25th/75th percentile table currently displays the prior 2025 class, so use the 159 as the current median and check the next Standard 509 report for the full Fall 2026 distribution.
LSU lists $25,966.40 in tuition and fees for the 2026–27 academic year for Louisiana residents, with an estimated total cost of attendance of $53,000.40.
Tulane’s 2026–27 standard JD cost-of-attendance sheet lists $77,608 in tuition and fees and an estimated total cost of attendance of $108,114 before aid.
Yes. Loyola offers an evening JD, and Southern University Law Center enrolls part-time students. Verify the current program structure and schedule directly with each school.
Tulane data were checked against its Fall 2026 class profile, 2026–27 financial-aid cost sheet, and 2025 ABA employment summary. LSU data use its Fall 2026 enrollment release, 2026–27 tuition page, and Class of 2025 ABA employment summary. Loyola figures come from its current admissions page and 2026–27 financing page. Southern’s admissions figures use its 2025 Standard 509 disclosure, while current tuition should be checked from its official tuition schedule.
We do not rank Louisiana schools solely by selectivity. The decision model considers employment geography, current price, scholarship leverage, program format, and the market the applicant actually intends to enter.
Written by Ali Unar, Founder, Lovare Institut. Verified September 19, 2026.