
The familiar four-year and six-year graduation rates used to compare undergraduate colleges are not appropriate measures of CUNY School of Law's J.D. students. The school does not enroll first-time, degree-seeking undergraduates, which is the population underlying those standard college measures.
For a more useful picture of J.D. completion, applicants should consult the school's current ABA-required disclosures. Those reports distinguish enrollment, academic attrition, transfers and degrees awarded by cohort. Students should read the definitions and reporting year before comparing law schools: a graduation figure for one entering class is not the completion rate of every student currently enrolled. Bar passage is another separate outcome, not a graduation rate.
There is no single earnings figure that accurately describes what all CUNY School of Law graduates can expect to make. Pay varies substantially by job type, location, experience and whether a graduate enters public service, private practice, government or another field.
Applicants evaluating financial outcomes should distinguish salary from employment. ABA employment disclosures report graduates' employment status and job categories at a specified point after graduation; those figures do not establish the salary of every graduate. When comparing any published salary survey, check whether it reports a median or mean, which graduates supplied salary information, and how many did not. Public-interest and government positions may also involve loan-repayment assistance or forgiveness eligibility, which should be evaluated under the applicable program rules rather than counted as salary.
Data last updated on November 2, 2026
Data sources: IPEDS 2024-25, Peterson 2026, College Scorecard 10/2026, Clery 2024 (2023-24), OpenAlex 2026
Figures on this profile come from federal and third-party datasets in the editions listed above and are refreshed periodically, so they may differ from what the institution currently reports. Confirm costs, deadlines and requirements with the school before making decisions.