Student Debt, Female Lawyers and Marriage

Women who take on substantial student debt to attend law school have different marriage patterns than do other women who enter the law, according to a new report by the National Bureau of Economic Research (abstract available here). The women with substantial debt marry at later ages than do others. Further, when they do marry, their spouses have lower wages than do the spouses of those without much debt. The study controls for various factors such as hours worked that may influence careers.