Law Schools Change to Meet Economic Realities

Undergraduate college applications are raising, but Law school applications have plummeted. Fewer applicants and enrollment brings less revenue, which requires budget cuts.  Law schools are scrambling to meet this challenge.

Solutions?

Decrease Class Size — Cut Faculty

It takes about four or five students to support one faculty member according to one estimate. This means that there are two options for Law Schools– Cut Faculty, or cut class sizes.

The University of Texas at Austin School of Law has reduced the school’s class size and this has helped it survive. McGeorge School of Law in Sacramento is stepping up its plan to cut the size of the law school and use the space for other graduate-level classes. About 51 percent of the law schools are cutting the size of their enrollment.

Many schools are quietly cutting faculty with buyouts, early retirement offers and canceled contracts with lower level instructors. Hamline University has cut full-time faculty by 18% since 2010, Eight professors at Vermont Law School are either retiring early, taking pay cuts or giving up tenure, Twenty-one professors accepted buyout packages at Widener, Seven professors accepted early retirement from University of Dayton School of Law, Seven untenured professors at Seton Hall in Newark have received notice that their contracts might not be renewed. (www.abajournal.com)

Easier Acceptance Standards

Lower LSAT scores and lower GPS will be considered for admissions. While many law schools are posting the same requirements they’ve always posted, it seems that in many instances law schools are accepting students with lower averages. The catch to this strategy is that the decline in the average LSAT and GPAs of admitted students will also lower their rankings.

Increase Scholarships to entice students

This has led to an increase in the number of students negotiating over scholarships. Be careful…these enticement merit scholarships could be lost after the first year and students could be left with the reality of paying full price for the subsequent two years.

Decrease Tuition

Tuition for private law schools grew from an average of $21,790 in 2000 to $37,702 in 2010, an increase of 73%! Public school tuitions have increased at an even higher percent, 150%, from $7,790 in 2000 to $20,000 in 2010! These are staggering numbers…three times faster than inflation. This stats according to the National Jurist. For their reasons, see: www.nationaljurist.com/content/tuition-three-times-faster-inflation-some-schools-buck-trend.

The University of George Law School dean for administration says that his school charges $15,862 per year for in-state residents. When compared to the tuition of an Ivy League law school, his school will always attract students because of the very large difference in cost.

Other changes have been proposed, including changing the length of time required to obtain a JD and allowing students to take the bar before they have started their third year. But these changes would require changed bar requirements so don’t expect this change to come soon.

As a prospective law student, why should you care?

• Understanding the financial balancing act of the school you are considering could increase your ability to negotiate for scholarships and therefore decrease your need to borrow.
• Perhaps you can now aim for acceptance  to a higher tier school? These schools, too, are working to keep their classes filled, and the prestige of graduating from one of these schools carries with it a more positive employment outlook.Prestigious schools such as Yale and Columbia report that their average student isn’t very concerned about their job prospects. The job market is bad, but it isn’t as bad for these graduates. Higher ranked law schools offer better job prospects because employers, law firms and federal judges tend to hire these students because of their recognized status. Still, the law firms will continue to focus on the student and what he/she can bring to the company…the ranking of the school, for some employers, is secondary.
• If your prospective school is dropping its standards for acceptance could this cause a drop in that school’s rankings? (Note: Other schools are taking this same action, so perhaps this will be a wash.)
• You do not want to be at a job interview and have to explain how you got a great legal education…but your law school no longer exists.
• Make sure that the decline in the school’s revenue will not force the school to sacrifice the quality of the instruction and clinical programs.
• Understand that your reason to attend law school is to…become a lawyer! You need to maximize your chances of having that career and also pay off your loans. Your life decisions…marriage, children, home and retirement, will be affected by your choices.

Tags: law school, Law School Admissions