Law degree is very important to economic and social mobility, but first-gen college grads are being charged a lot more for the privilege, and it's compounding racial inequality. A story of failure in ten charts.
https://www.legalevolution.org/2020/07/rocks-on-the-back-of-first-generation-college-grads-attending-law-school-182/

Chart 1. Grad and professional degrees have very high "educational inheritance" factor: If mom or dad went to professional school, you're 3.5x more likely to do the same.

Chart 2. Graduate and professional degrees associated with much higher household income. This is why the demand for graduate education is so price inelastic.

Chart 3. Graduate education is the gateway to corporate power. And for women and minorities, it's become a de-facto prerequisite.

Chart 4. Most law school financial aid is "merit-based." Over last 20 years, total dollars for merit-based aid have grown 10x faster than need-based grants.

Chart 5. Unfortunately, less merit-aid goes to first-generation college grads attending law school ...

Chart 6. ... because merit-based aid is overwhelmingly based on LSAT scores ...

Chart 7. ... and first-gen college grades tend to have slightly lower scores. Despite fewer scholarship dollars, first-gens tend to spend more time studying *and* doing paid work. #notprivileged

Chart 8. Large overlap between first-gen and minority students.

Chart 9. Bulk of merit aid goes to white students, which compounds the advantage of whites and the disadvantage of underrepresented minorities.

Chart 10. Net effect is that minorities pay a lot more for shot at social, economic, and political mobility. This is our "system."

Fixing it is going to be hard because of bad incentives and weak, dispersed leadership. Some initial thoughts at end of post. https://www.legalevolution.org/2020/07/rocks-on-the-back-of-first-generation-college-grads-attending-law-school-182/