Bachelor's · Waltham, Massachusetts

Is Non-Professional Legal Studies at Bentley University worth it?

Medium confidence Medium confidence: 40–99 graduates behind the earnings figures.

The verdict · all families, in-state, half paid with loans

Pays back fast: graduates typically recover the cost in about 2.6 years.

Earnings 1 year after graduating: $83,930; Treasury AY2020-21, AY2021-22 pooled earnings cohort measured in CY2022, CY2023, inflation adjusted to 2024 dollars
Earnings 4 years after graduating: $159,063; Treasury AY2017-2018, AY2018-2019 pooled earnings cohort measured in CY2022, CY2023, inflation adjusted to 2024 dollars
Typical federal debt at graduation: Not enough borrowers to report; NSLDS pooled AY2022-23, AY2023-24 cohort
Net cost to graduate, all families: $165k (likely $165k – $165k); AcadYr 2024-25, reported in IPEDS DCY2025-26
Earnings bump, year 4: $116k a year vs high-school graduates aged 25–34 in MA; 2023 ACS 5-year pooled, adjusted to 2024 dollars
Payback: 2.6 years (likely 2.3–3.0); Bump vs net cost plus loan interest
10-year net return: $727k (likely $575k – $879k); Today's dollars
20-year net return: $2.06M (likely $1.71M – $2.47M); Today's dollars
Odds of finishing (school-wide): 88%; Fall 2019 or AcadYr 2019-20 cohort (differs by institutional calendar), reported in IPEDS DCY2025-26