The two big players in the law school field are BPP and the College of Law but they are not the only options (we will come to our big LS price comprison below).

Firstly though, CoL has just announced that it will be charging £10,200 for its LPC in Bristol from September 2010 while its competitors, BPP Law School and the Bristol Institute of Legal Practice (Bilp), will be asking for £8,995 and £7,860 respectively for their full-time courses.

CoL chief executive Nigel Savage told The Lawyer:

“Frankly we’re a high end legal education provider and we’ve invested in a fantastic new building and great staff so we’ll leave it up to Bilp and BPP to slog it out at the cheap end.” More>

Whether you think £8,995 or even £7,860 is cheap is perhaps a matter of perspective. The main point here though – shopping around (even in the same city) can mean saving cash. [The not-so-subtle dig at BPP belies the fierce rivalry between the big two]. Quality wise, it may be the case that you can’t get Ferrari legal education at Mini prices but, surprisingly enough, the difficulty of direct comparison is that most people only elect to go to one law school in their lifetime!

However, we did manage to find someone who has actually used both big providers for different types of professional education (not a direct comparison but the best we could muster) – the LPC at CoL and the IMC (a financial services course) at BPP.

Whilst not commenting on the venues (both providers have a number of campuses and students can check these out for themselves) our source did say that the material and support were of a similar standard at both and… in the end, the most important thing was individuals making the effort to study, pass the exams and gain the relevant certificate (not really rocket science).

Numbers wise, most students will head to one or the other of the main providers – if for no other reason than BPP and CoL have signed exclusive deals with many of the firms. But there are plenty of other options available – at a significant variation in cost. To give you a comparison here are the 2007-08 and 2008-09 LPC fees for a various law schools (BVC fees are below)(For 2010 please check the latest prices with individual providers).

LPC FEES 2007-08 and 2008-09

BPP LAW SCHOOL (London)
2007-08: £10,500
2008-09 £11,550
% change +10%
Includes materials

INNS OF COURT SCHOOL OF LAW, CITY UNIVERSITY
2007-08: £10,500
2008-09: £10,600
% change +1%
Includes deposit, SRA fees, manuals, books and materials

THE COLLEGE OF LAW (London)
2007-08: £9,850
2008-09: £10,340
% change +5%
Includes books, materials, learning resources and first attempt examinations and assessments

NOTTINGHAM AT KAPLAN LAW SCHOOL, LONDON
2007-08: £9,800
2008-09: £10,500
% change +7.1%
Includes core textbooks, statute books, assessments and materials

THE COLLEGE OF LAW (Guildford)
2007-08: £9,180
2008-09: £9,640
% change +5%
Includes books, materials, learning resources and first attempt examinations and assessments

BPP LAW SCHOOL (Manchester/Leeds)
2007-08: £9,200
2008-09: £9,550
% change +3.8%
Includes materials

THE COLLEGE OF LAW (Birmingham)
2007-08: £9,000
2008-09: £9,400
% change +4.4%
Includes books, materials, learning resources and first attempt examinations and assessments

NOTTINGHAM LAW SCHOOL
2007-08: £9,100
2008-09: £9,375
% change +3%
Includes materials, manuals and assessments

THE COLLEGE OF LAW (Chester/York)
2007-08: £8,750
2008-09: £9,100
% change +4%
Includes text books, materials, learning resources and first attempt examinations and assessments

CARDIFF LAW SCHOOL
2007-08: £8,700
2008-09: £9,100
% change +4.6%
Includes materials

OXFORD INSTITUTE OF LEGAL PRACTICE
2007-08: £9,100
2008-09: £8,910
% change -2.1%
Includes materials

UNIVERSITY OF SHEFFIELD
2007-08: £8,665
2008-09: £8,900
% change +2.7%
Includes materials, manuals and practitioner texts

UNIVERSITY OF WESTMINSTER
2007-08: £8,500
2008-09: £8,500
% change 0%
A discount of £500 is offered if students are enrolling on the LPC and CPE in Law and have at least an upper second-class degree or CPE with commendation

BRISTOL INSTITUTE OF LEGAL PRACTICE, UNIVERSITY OF THE WEST OF ENGLAND, BRISTOL
2007-08: £8,080
2008-09: £8,280
% change +2.5%
Includes books and materials

SWANSEA UNIVERSITY
2007-08: £8,200 and £7,900 for students who studied undergraduate at Swansea
2008-09: £8,200 and £7,900 for students who studied undergraduate at Swansea
% change 0%
Includes materials and manuals

BOURNEMOUTH UNIVERSITY
2007-08: £7,800
2008-09: £8,200
% change +5.1%

ABERYSTWYTH UNIVERSITY
2007-08: £7,900
2008-09: £8,100
% change +2.5%
Includes SRA fee

LONDON METROPOLITAN UNIVERSITY
2007-08: £7,260
2008-09: £8,000
% change +10.2%
Includes manuals at £350

UNIVERSITY OF PLYMOUTH
2007-08: £7,250
2008-09: £7,950
% change +9.7%
Includes texts and materials

UNIVERSITY OF GLAMORGAN
2007-08: £7,800
2008-09: £7,990
% change +2.4%

ANGLIA RUSKIN UNIVERSITY
2007-08: £7,500
2008-09: £7,800
% change +4%
Includes texts and materials

MANCHESTER METROPOLITAN UNIVERSITY
2007-08: £7,200
2008-09: £7,650
% change +6.3%
Includes books and materials

STAFFORDSHIRE UNIVERSITY
2007-08: £7,400
2008-09: £7,600
% change +2.7%
Includes books and materials

THAMES VALLEY UNIVERSITY
2007-08: £6,950
2008-09: £7,500 or £7,130 with early payment
% change +7.9%
Every year an early settlement discount of 5% is offered. Fees include manuals and SRA fee

UNIVERSITY OF HUDDERSFIELD
2007-08: 7,000
2008-09: £7,350
% change +5.0%
Includes manuals

BIRMINGHAM CITY UNIVERSITY (formerly University of Central England)
2007-08: £6,500
2008-09: £7,200
% change +10.8%

NORTHUMBRIA UNIVERSITY
2007-08: £7,150
2008-09: 7,400
% change +3.5%
Includes books and materials

LIVERPOOL JOHN MOORES UNIVERSITY
2007-08: £6,880
2008-09: £7,070
% change +2.8%
Includes books and materials

UNIVERSITY OF CENTRAL LANCASHIRE
2007-08: £6,500
2008-09: £6,800
% change +4.6%
Includes books and materials. Graduates of UCLan can apply for a 20% bursary on the fee

DE MONTFORT UNIVERSITY
2007-08: £6,750
2008-09: £6,750
% change 0%

UNIVERSITY OF WOLVERHAMPTON
2007-08: £6,390
2008-09: £6,710
% change +5%
Include books and materials

LEEDS METROPOLITAN UNIVERSITY
2007-08: £6,500 (Leeds Met students £5,850)
2008-09: £6,900 (Leeds Met students £6,210)
% change +6.2%
Includes books and materials

UNIVERSITY OF HERTFORDSHIRE (part-time only)
2007-08: £4,380 a year (total over two years £8,760)
2008-09: £4,490 a year (total over two years £8,980)
% change +2.5%

And for aspiring barristers…

BVC FEES: 2007-08: and 2008-09

BPP LAW SCHOOL (London)
2007-08: £12,700
2008-09: £14,150
% change +11.4%
Includes materials

INNS OF COURT SCHOOL OF LAW, CITY UNIVERSITY
2007-08: £12,700
2008-09: £13,250
% change +4.3%
Includes deposit, Bar Standards Board fees and manuals, books and materials

THE COLLEGE OF LAW (London)
2007-08: £12,080
2008-09: £12,930
% change +7%
Includes books, materials, learning resources and first attempt examinations and assessments

BPP LAW SCHOOL (Leeds)
2007-08: £10,700
2008-09: £11,500
% change +7.5%
Includes materials

THE COLLEGE OF LAW (Birmingham)
2007-08: £9,900
2008-09: £10,500
% change +6.1%
Includes books, materials, learning resources and first attempt examinations and assessments

NOTTINGHAM LAW SCHOOL
2007-08: £9,330
2008-09: £9,850
% change +5.6%
Includes materials, manuals and assessments

BRISTOL INSTITUTE OF LEGAL PRACTICE, UNIVERSITY OF THE WEST OF ENGLAND AT BRISTOL
2007-08: £9,435
2008-09: £9,775
% change +3.6%
Includes books and materials

THE UNIVERSITY OF NORTHUMBRIA
2007-08: £8,700
2008-09: £9,155
% change +5.2%
Includes books and materials

CARDIFF LAW SCHOOL
2007-08: £8,500 + £500 deposit towards materials
2008-09: £9,000 + £600 deposit towards materials
% change +5.9%

MANCHESTER METROPOLITAN UNIVERSITY
2007-08: £8,705
2008-09: £8,950
% change +2.8%
Includes books and materials