Law

One of the more popular combined-degree programs at Iowa is Law (J.D.) combined with Urban and Regional Planning (M.A. or M.S.). Joint Law-Planning degree graduates typically obtain employment as city managers, city attorneys, city planners or planning administrators. They also practice at law firms or advocacy organizations as land use, housing, transportation or environmental law specialists.

The J.D. degree requires 84 credit hours, typically completed in three years; the M.A. or M.S. requires 50 credit hours, typically completed in two years. Law may apply a up to 12 hours of planning courses toward the J.D. requirement, and Planning will apply 15 hours of law courses toward the M.A. or M.S. requirement. Therefore, joint program students typically complete both degree requirements in four years. Taking classes over a summer term may be required to meet this target. A total of 107 hours of graduate work is required for the joint degree, including a minimum of 35 hours in planning and 72 hours of law.

As a member of a joint degree program, students will pay only one program's tuition; the greater of the two programs' tuition costs. This sometimes means that the student will pay higher tuition for urban and regional planning courses than they would if they were pursuing that degree only. However, this is compensated for by the fact that students will complete two degrees in one less year and therefore pay one less year of tuition.

A brochure describing this joint degree is available here.