The higher education bubble bursts, with law schools first

A typical complaining note in this country, perhaps more than anywhere else, has been that we need yet another lawyer as much as we need a frontal lobotomy.  (editor: we do think you need one. Awshutupalready!)

Yet, law schools seemed to be sprouting everywhere. Why so?

Over the past decade, the number of law-school students has also steadily increased, as universities have opened or expanded their schools. Law schools tend to be moneymakers: They're cheap to set up, and tuition runs high, even at poorly rated programs. Thus, universities have added them on with relish, and the list of approved law schools has increased 9 percent in the past decade, to 200. That means that the number of new lawyers minted every year has not stopped growing, either: Law schools awarded 44,004 degrees last year, up 13 percent in a decade.

But, the Great Recession's aftermath has helped clarify that there might not be much monetary rewards waiting for these students upon graduation.  So, what is the latest news then?

According to data from the Law School Admission Council, first reported by the Wall Street Journal, the number of applicants to law school has dropped a whopping 11.5 percent year-to-year—to the lowest level since 2001 at this point in the application cycle.

One heck of a reason to celebrate, wouldn't you think?  But, what is driving down law school enrolments?

In the past year or two, scads of blogs have committed themselves to exposing law school as a "scam," and the New York Times and Wall Street Journal have devoted thousands of words to telling readers why law school is a bad, bad idea if you do not actually want to be a lawyer. Look to any of a dozen blogs or news sites to explain how wages for legal workers might continue to fall, as automation takes over rote tasks and businesses increasingly refuse to pay obscenely high per-hour fees. Wandering further into the realm of anecdata, virtually every young lawyer or law student I know would love to talk my ear off about the worrisome employment prospects for new legal professionals.
Once the conventional wisdom has spotted a bubble—whether in housing or gold or anything else—it tends to burst.

When will the public notice that law schools are only the most glaring example of most of higher education swelling up into a giant bubble?