CHICAGO (CBS) – Northwestern University Law School will trim next fall’s incoming class by 10 percent – or about 25 students.

WBBM Newsradio’s John Cody reports the move will help address a decline in applications.

Dean Daniel Rodriguez said part of the problem is a reduction in the law jobs available for graduates, many of whom leave law school with more than $100,000 in student loan debt.

“Some [jobs] are being outsourced to other kinds of legal service providers in other countries. Other kinds of legal services are being outsourced, frankly, to non-lawyers,” he said.

Rodriguez also said increasingly cash-conscious clients have been questioning whether they should fund a system where they pay both new lawyers and their more experienced and more highly-paid mentors.

In addition to trimming the class size, Northwestern University Law School will be limiting tuition increases to 3 percent, about the rate of inflation, to ease the financial pressure on law school graduates.