Law schools are in 'hand-to-hand combat' for the best students, dean says
Law school has become a buyer’s market as even the top-rated law schools compete for students with the best academic credentials.
The New York Times DealBook blog has a story on the phenomenon, spurred by declining law school enrollment—down 24 percent from 2010 to 2013. In response, some law schools are cutting tuition, increasing financial aid, bargaining with students and offering more joint degrees to entice them. With an eye on shrinking budgets, law schools are trimming faculty or seeking money from their parent institutions.
At Northwestern University School of Law, where annual tuition exceeds $50,000, 74 percent of first-year students received financial aid this academic year, up from just 30 percent in 2009. Northwestern University law dean Daniel Rodriguez told DealBook that he was getting calls from incoming students trying to get a deal on tuition even as summer was ending. “It’s insane,” Rodriguez said. “We’re in hand-to-hand combat with other schools.”
Rodriguez, president of the Association of American Law Schools, noted the declining enrollment numbers at the nation’s 204 accredited law schools. “I don’t get how the math adds up for the number of schools and the number of students,” Rodriguez told DealBook. “We all know it’s happening, and we are all taking steps that urgent, not desperate, times call for.”
