First-year enrollment at U.S. law schools plunged this year to levels not seen since the 1970s as students steered away from a career that has left many recent graduates loaded with debt and struggling to find work.

The American Bar Association said on Tuesday that the number of first-year law students fell 11% this year across the 202 U.S. law schools that the group accredits. The total—39,675 full and part-time first year students—was one shy of 1977's total, when the nation had far fewer ABA-approved schools.

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