You walk into a private law college for admission and everything looks amazing. Shiny brochures, beautiful campus photos and staff telling you about guaranteed jobs and bright futures. They make it sound like you'll become a top lawyer in no time. But after spending three years and lakhs of rupees, most students realise they've been fooled.

Private law colleges have become really good at one thing - making big promises they can't keep. They care more about making money than actually teaching students properly. And sadly, desperate students and parents fall for these tricks every time.

Teachers who aren't really there

The college will tell you about their "experienced professors" with big degrees. But here's the truth - these star teachers barely show up. Most of your classes are taught by young teachers who just graduated themselves and don't know much more than you do.

The result? You end up learning more from Google than from your professors. After five years, you can't even write a simple legal application or understand how courts actually work. You know theory but nothing practical.

The job promise that's a lie

This is where private law colleges really cheat you. They claim "90% students get jobs" but they count everything - even if a student becomes a tuition teacher or gets a job through family connections. When they say "average salary 8 lakhs," they're including that one lucky student who got a big firm job while ignoring the 50 others who are still unemployed.

Most private college graduates struggle to find any legal work. Companies prefer students from good colleges, and these graduates start at the back of the line. All those "industry connections" they promised? They don't exist.

The money trap

Private law colleges charge 2-10 lakh rupees per year, telling families it's a great investment. Parents sell property, take huge loans and empty their savings thinking their child will get a high-paying job later.

But here's what actually happens - most graduates earn so little that they can't even pay back their education loans. Families who sacrificed everything for their child's law degree end up in debt for years. The dream of becoming rich lawyers turns into a nightmare of EMIs and financial stress.

Old teaching in new buildings

These colleges love using fancy words like "modern curriculum" and "practical learning." But inside the classroom, it's the same old boring methods. Teachers read from 20-year-old books, give the same assignments every year and think showing PowerPoint slides means they're being modern.

The "internships" they arrange? You'll spend your time making photocopies and getting tea for lawyers. The "international partnerships" exist only on paper. Nothing they promise about innovative teaching actually happens.

Students are suffering

The worst part is what this does to students mentally. They come to law college excited and full of dreams. But slowly, they realise they've been cheated. They feel trapped because they've already spent so much money that they can't quit.

Students become depressed and anxious. They know they're not learning anything useful, but their parents have spent everything on their education. They feel guilty, angry and hopeless. Many lose interest in law completely.

Nobody is checking these colleges

The people who approve new law colleges don't seem to care about quality. Once a college gets permission to start, nobody checks if they're actually teaching properly or if students are learning anything. This is why bad colleges continue to operate year after year.

Many private law colleges exist just to make money. They meet the basic requirements on paper but fail completely at actually educating students. And because there's no proper checking system, they get away with it.

How to fix this problem

Not all private law colleges are bad, but most are. The problem is that students can't tell the difference between good and bad colleges because everyone makes the same big promises.

We need stricter rules and regular checking of these colleges. Students and parents need to ask tough questions instead of believing fancy marketing. The legal community should speak up about which colleges are actually good and which ones are just fooling people.

Most importantly, we need to focus on quality, not quantity. Instead of opening more and more law colleges, we should make sure the existing ones actually do their job properly.

Private law colleges will keep making fake promises until we demand honesty about what they really offer. Our students deserve better than being fooled into debt and disappointment. The legal system needs properly trained lawyers, not graduates who can't even file a basic court application.

It's time to call out these colleges for what they really are - expensive shops selling useless degrees to desperate families.

Rahul Goyal is a final year B.A.LL.B. (Hons.) student of KIIT University.