By Khnuma Simmonds

Students applying for law school for the Fall 2006 semester may be comforted in the recent drop in applications to schools nation-wide.

According to the Law School Admission Council’s Web site, more than 95,000 people applied to law school in 2005, representing an almost 5 percent decrease from the previous year.

While the national average of applicants decreased in 2005, the University’s Law School stayed on a steady track, according to the School’s Web site. Last year, more than 5,200 applications were received.

However, University officials said they are expecting a decrease in applicants in 2006 with only 4,550 applications accounted for so far.

“There are cycles in application volume, just as there are cycles in the economy. Perhaps a combination of a better economy and fewer students choosing to take the LSAT indicate fewer students are applying to law schools,” Deborah Martin, assistant dean for enrollment management at the law school, said. “According to data provided by the Law School Admission Council, LSAC applications have dropped cumulatively more than 3 percent nationwide.”

In 2000, David Leonhardt of The New York Times reported “law schools have gained the advantage in their long tug of war with business schools for the attention of corporate America’s future elite,” because the application rates for business schools had taken a dramatic decrease. This year, however, law schools are taking a backseat.

Mike Terk, a law student at the University, said the recently booming job market was to blame for the nation-wide decrease in law school applicants.

“When the job market is lousy, people graduating college who can’t get jobs go to law school instead, so applications go through the roof,” Terk said. “In 2001, 2002, 2003, we had the worst economy in 25 years, so law school applications hit an all-time high.

“A lot of people were going to law school because they couldn’t get decent jobs and basically couldn’t think of anything else to do,” he added.

In addition to a competitive job market, law students attribute the application decline to the costly tuition, which increases on an annual basis, according to law school officials.

“I had three fears when applying to law school,” Jerome Tabar, a law student at the University, said. “The first was, ‘Did I get all the paperwork right?’ The second was, ‘Is my LSAT score high enough to get me in anywhere?’ The third was, ‘Assuming I get in somewhere, how am I going to pay for this?'”

The 2005 tuition for the University’s law school, including fees, amounted to $33,160 for full-time students.

This is a slightly larger number than neighboring universities such as St. John’s whose tuition and fees total $32,700 for full-time students, but does not compare to Cornell University’s $53,900.