2023 Best Value Legal Research Schools in District of Columbia For Those Making $0-$30k

With all of the options students have for higher education today, it can be tough to choose which direction to take. One of our goals at College Factual is to give you as much information as we can - such as our “Best Value Legal Research Schools in District of Columbia For Those Making $0-$30k” ranking - to help you make that decision.

Legal Research is the 114th most popular major in the country with 6,874 degrees awarded in 2020-2021. In 2019-2020, legal research graduates who were awarded their degree in 2017-2019, earned an average of $66,544 and had an average of $26,000 in loans still to pay off.

Across District of Columbia, there were 481 legal research graduates with average earnings and debt of $82,283 and $0 respectively.

For this year’s “Best Value Legal Research Schools in District of Columbia For Those Making $0-$30k” ranking, we looked at 3 colleges that offer a degree in legal research. This ranking identifies schools with high-quality legal research programs that also have a lower cost than schools of similar quality.

Some of the factors we look at when determining these rankings are overall quality of the legal research program at the school and the cost of the school after aid is awarded among other things. Check out our ranking methodology for more information.

More Ways to Rank Legal Research Schools

Since the program you select can have a significant impact on your future, we’ve developed a number of rankings, including this “Best Value Legal Research Schools in District of Columbia For Those Making $0-$30k” list, to help you choose the best school for you.

In addition to College Factual’s rankings, you may want to take a look at College Combat, our unique tool that lets you pit your favorite schools head-to-head and compare how they rate on factors that most interest you. Test it out by comparing your favorite schools against others you are considering, or bookmark the tool so you can experiment with it later.

Best Value Legal Research Schools in District of Columbia For Those Making $0-$30k

The following schools top our list of the Best Best Value Legal Research Schools in District of Columbia For Those Making $0-$30k.

Top 3 Best Value Colleges for Legal Research (Income $0-$30k) in District of Columbia

1

Georgetown University
Washington, District of Columbia

#1 in overall quality

$3,077 Average Net Price

$69,885 Average Early-Career Earnings

Out of the 3 schools in the Best Value Legal Research Schools in District of Columbia For Those Making $0-$30k that were part of this year’s ranking, Georgetown University landed the #1 spot on the list. Georgetown is a large school located in Washington, District of Columbia that handed out 317 ’s legal research degrees in 2020-2021.

Georgetown not only placed well in this ranking. It is also #1 on our “Best Legal Research Schools in District of Columbia” list. The estimated yearly cost for Georgetown University is $3,077 for district of columbia legal research students whose families make $0-$30k.

The school has an impressive undergrad student loan default rate. It’s only 0.7%, which is much lower than the national rate of 10.1%. Students who start out at the school are likely to stick around. The freshman retention rate is 94%.

Read full report on Legal Research at Georgetown

2

George Washington University
Washington, District of Columbia

#2 in overall quality

$17,673 Average Net Price

$65,148 Average Early-Career Earnings

Out of the 3 schools in the Best Value Legal Research Schools in District of Columbia For Those Making $0-$30k that were part of this year’s ranking, George Washington University landed the #2 spot on the list. Washington, District of Columbia is the setting for this large institution of higher learning. The private not-for-profit school handed out ’s legal research degrees to 74 students in 2020-2021.

GWU did well in our major quality rankings, too. It placed #2 on our “Best Legal Research Schools in District of Columbia” list. It costs about $17,673 for district of columbia legal research students whose families make $0-$30k per year to attend George Washington University.

The low undergrad student loan default rate of 1.3% is a good sign that students have an easier time paying off their loans than they might at other schools. For comparison, the national default rate is 10.1%. With a freshman retention rate of 88%, the school does an excellent job of retaining its undergraduate students.

Read more about Legal Research at George Washington University

3

American University
Washington, District of Columbia

#3 in overall quality

$21,108 Average Net Price

$50,575 Average Early-Career Earnings

You’ll be in good company if you decide to attend American University. It ranked #3 on our 2023 Best Value Legal Research Schools in District of Columbia For Those Making $0-$30k list. This fairly large school is located in Washington, District of Columbia, and it awarded 88 ’s legal research degrees in 2020-2021.

In addition to being on our district of columbia legal research students whose families make $0-$30k list, The American University has also earned the #3 rank in our “Best Legal Research Schools in District of Columbia” ranking. It costs about $21,108 for district of columbia legal research students whose families make $0-$30k per year to attend American University.

The undergrad student loan default rate at the school is 1.7%, which is quite low when compared to the national default rate of 10.1%. With a freshman retention rate of 85%, the school does an excellent job of retaining its undergraduate students.

Read full report on Legal Research at The American University

• Best Value Colleges for Legal Research (Income $0-$30k) in the Middle Atlantic Region
• Best Value Colleges for Legal Research (Income $0-$30k)

Notes and References

References

• The Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System (IPEDS) from the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES), a branch of the U.S. Department of Education (DOE) serves as the core of our data about colleges.
• Some other college data, including much of the graduate earnings data, comes from the U.S. Department of Education’s (College Scorecard).
• Information about the national average student loan default rate is from the U.S. Department of Education and refers to data about the 2016 borrower cohort tracking period for which the cohort default rate (CDR) was 10.1%.

Read more about our data sources and methodologies

Footnotes

• *Average salary, average net price, and average tuition and fees are for the top schools only.
• Some schools otherwise deserving of recognition may have been removed from this ranking in the event that new data identified post-publication warranted it, or at the request of the school.