The federal government has a limited amount of money available for student financial aid. Many people believe the size of that financial aid pot should be increased. That may be true but, until that happens, the government should try to allocate the limited funds it has as efficiently as possible. So I ask, should the government be giving that money to law students?

I have great respect for my profession. I think lawyers serve an extremely important function. I’m a strong believer in individual liberty and many of our personal liberties have been preserved through the law and the efforts of lawyers. But it’s hard to argue that the most important issue in the United States today is a shortage of lawyers.

We need more scientists, engineers, mathematicians, and primary care physicians. So why is the government paying for students to major in fields like political science, sociology, and law, just to name a few? Wouldn’t we be better off allocating more money to math and the hard sciences, to give students an incentive to move into those areas? (Or, since many students aren’t prepared to move into those areas, perhaps some of that money needs to be used to improve primary and secondary education in science and math.)

I admit that I financed both my undergraduate political science degree and my law degree in part with federal funds. (When I went to college, I discovered that what I had always considered a liability—my family’s lack of money—was suddenly a benefit.) I was able to pursue my dream with the federal government’s help. But perhaps the government should have encouraged me to be a scientist or engineer. Or, if I really wanted to be a lawyer, to finance that dream myself.

There’s even less money available now than there was when I was a student, back in the days of Aristotle. (Not less in nominal dollars, but less as a percentage of the cost of a higher education.) Because of that, the need to allocate that financial aid money well is even stronger.

I’m a law professor, so even suggesting this is going against my own self-interest. But sometimes self-interest has to yield to national interest.