The University of Georgia School of Law topped a national ranking of the "best value law schools" for the second year in a row, followed closely by Georgia State University College of Law at No. 7.

The ranking by The National Jurist is designed to identify schools that "graduate students with low debt and a high chance of passing the bar and getting a legal job," according to the report, released this month. It measures value by considering tuition cost, cost of living and student debt load upon graduation–as well as graduates' success in passing the bar exam and landing jobs in law. 

Notably, GSU Law ranked first of the 58 schools that made the list for lowest average student debt. At $50,902, debt upon graduation dropped almost $6,000 from GSU Law students' $56,710 average in last year's ranking. 

UGA Law reduced its average student debt load by almost the same amount. Indebtedness per student at graduation last year was $77,269, down from $82,191 the prior year. Overall, 13 of the top 25 schools on the National Jurist's list this year managed to cut student indebtedness. 

UGA Law and GSU Law are both public, so their tuition is significantly lower than for private law schools. Most of the other "best value" schools ranked in the top 25 were also public law schools.

Low tuition, plus increased scholarship funding, helped keep debt low at these schools.

"Over the past five years, buoyed by private donations and holding the line on tuition, the aggregate annual indebtedness of our students has been reduced by more than $5 million," said UGA Law Dean Bo Rutledge in a statement. He added that for the 2018-2019 academic year, 40% of the law school's student body did not borrow funds to finance their legal education. 

Tuition at UGA Law increased by a mere $12 last year, to $19,708, and GSU Law held tuition steady at $17,050.

At UGA Law, Rutledge said, more than 70% of the class of 2022 is receiving some kind of scholarship aid, and all of the first-generation college graduates and military veterans in the class are receiving financial assistance.

Both schools' students achieved high bar pass and employment rates. UGA Law's two-year "ultimate bar pass rate" (the aggregate rate for the class of 2016) was 96.8%. It was 94.4% at GSU Law. 

UGA Law's employment rate was 90.8%, followed by GSU Law at 83.6%, using a formula giving more weight to full-time, bar-passage required jobs. For comparison, the University of Iowa College of Law had the highest employment rate, 93.7%, of the schools on the list.

National Jurist bases its rankings on employment rate, giving weight to full-time jobs requiring bar passage (35%); tuition (25%); the percentage of graduates who pass the bar exam (15%); average indebtedness upon graduation (15%); and cost of living (10%).

All data came from the American Bar Association's required disclosure form for law schools that it accredits, except for average indebtedness, which came from U.S. News & World Report.