Many aspire to enter the legal profession as a lawyer. This career path requires completion of law school—about three years of postgraduate work. In 2014, approximately 38,000 students enrolled in law...

Many aspire to enter the legal profession as a lawyer. This career path requires completion of law school—about three years of postgraduate work. In 2014, approximately 38,000 students enrolled in law schools across the country. There are two problems: (1) there are only about half that number of employment opportunities that require a legal degree and (2) the average law school graduate exits law school with student loan debts averaging $127,000 for private schools and $88,000 for public schools.20 Many blame the current federal student loan subsidy system for both the problems. Federal student loans allow schools to continue accepting law students and raising tuition fees as law schools have no responsibility for loan repayment or an excess of graduating law students. Several solutions have been proposed including capping law student loans, requiring law schools to be responsible for loan repayment in certain situations, and completely eliminating federal subsidies in the form of student loans. Should actions be taken to reduce the number of law school graduates and the amount of student loans? Explain.