Independent law schools seek backup accreditor as ABA Legal Ed council is under review
Independent law schools are scrambling to make sure their students can continue to access student loans as the ABA Section of Legal Education and Admissions to the Bar’s council’s accrediting powers are reviewed by the U.S. Department of Education.
“All of the independent schools are very aware of the situation,” says Anthony W. Crowell, president and dean of New York Law School. “If the ABA council lost its accreditation authority, independent schools would need to find another accreditor.” New York Law School has been accredited with the Middle States Commission on Higher Education since April 2025.
Federal accreditation of any type is necessary for students to receive federal financial aid. Most law schools rely on the Education Department’s blessing of their parent university’s accreditation for aid and lean only on the ABA Legal Education Section council’s separate accreditation to allow their graduates to sit for the bar exam in any state.
But 15 law schools have no parent universities as a backstop.
“The ABA accreditation allows these schools to offer federal financial aid to their students,” says Crowell, founding president of the National Association of Standalone Graduate Schools, which has 12 law school members. “It is a predicate for eligibility for Title IV funding—that’s critically important.”
Beth McCormack, Vermont Law & Graduate School dean, agrees that national accreditation is vital.
“It’s hard for me to imagine any school to survive” without students having access to federal loans, she adds. Vermont Law School has been accredited by the New England Association of Schools and Colleges since 1980.
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“We give financial aid to almost every student in the building,” says Camille M. Davidson, dean of Mitchell Hamline School of Law. (Photo by Susan Willis)Financial aid eligibility is especially important at independent law schools, which often attract first-generation law students, many of whom need financial aid, sources say. And if students can get federal loans, they are often able to get money through other sources as well, such as the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs and other entities, says Camille M. Davidson, president and dean of Mitchell Hamline School of Law. About 84% of that school’s first-year students are first-generation law students, she adds. “We give financial aid to almost every student in the building.”
The Department of Education recognizes the ABA council as the sole accrediting body for U.S. law schools and is currently conducting its regularly scheduled five-year review of the council’s accrediting status. It’s a two-year process that culminates with a public hearing.
But in the past year, the council has been under fire, called out in an executive order by President Donald Trump, adding to feelings of uncertainty about the council’s future status.
Each of the seven accrediting commissions listed by the Council for Higher Education Accreditation has its own processes, and each is recognized by the Education Department. These accreditors include the Higher Learning Commission, the Middle States Commission on Higher Education and the New England Commission on Higher Education.
Some have created an expedited process that could take as little as six months instead of the typical multiyear process, sources say.
“Over the years, the ABA has run into bumps with the Department of Education,” says Darby Dickerson, president and dean of Southwestern Law School.Southwestern Law School is in the process of receiving a second accreditation from the WASC Senior College and University Commission, says Darby Dickerson, president and dean of the school.
“Over the years, the ABA has run into bumps with the Department of Education,” she adds. With a significant portion of Southwestern students receiving federal financial aid, “I knew it was important to always have that bridge, just in case.”
All accreditation processes are time-intensive, expensive and burdensome, “especially for independent law schools that don’t have accreditation offices and universitywide systems,” Vermont Law’s McCormack says.
And complying with the ABA’s and a regional accreditor’s guidelines can double up the work, she adds.
“The standards are not the same. The reporting requirements are not the same. It’s a hardship to comply with two sets of accreditors,” she adds.
Meanwhile, at least one school has no plans to apply for a second accreditation.
“Appalachian School of Law is comfortable with ABA accreditation,” says David Western, president and dean of the school. “We’re not pursuing anything else.”
INDEPENDENT LAW SCHOOLS
• Albany Law School
• Appalachian School of Law
• Brooklyn Law School
• University of California Law at San Francisco
• California Western School of Law
• Charleston School of Law
• Cooley Law School
• Mitchell Hamline School of Law
• New York Law School
• South Texas College of Law Houston
• Southwestern Law School
• Vermont Law and Graduate School
• New England Law | Boston
• Atlanta’s John Marshall School of Law
• Ave Maria School of Law
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