County wants reimbursement of $3.4M it gave Appalachian School of Law
In Virginia, the Buchanan County board of supervisors, which gave $3.4 million to the Appalachian School of Law in February, wants its money back.
On Nov. 2, the county board of supervisors voted 6-1 to request the reimbursement after a supervisor reported that the Grundy, Virginia, school was in better shape financially than what was presented in February and made accusations of reckless spending.
“There has been no reckless spending,” David Western, the president and the dean of the Appalachian School of Law, wrote to the ABA Journal.
Early this year, the law school had requested $6 million to keep it afloat as it considered a merger with Roanoke College in Salem, Virginia, which likely meant moving the school away from Grundy.
Talks with Roanoke College ended, but there are ongoing merger discussions between the Appalachian School of Law and the University of Pikeville, a private liberal arts school about 40 miles away in Kentucky, Western says.
The $3.4 million agreement with the county stipulated that if the law school moved away, its assets would revert to the town’s industrial development authority, he adds.
“UPike has no interest in moving the school,” Western says. “They want it to stay in Grundy.”
He adds the law school’s financial position has improved, attributable to the county’s funding, as well as a $1 million gift from the Street Foundation, a philanthropic organization.
The law school has been struggling since 2013, when its student body hit fewer than 100 students. County officials said they’d been told that the private, independent law school would shut down if the county didn’t provide the funding.
The rural school founded in 1994 reported 182 students in its 2025 Standard 509 Information Report to the ABA, the latest information available. The school’s break-even point is 300 students, according to a post on the Admissions Consultants website.
The Cardinal News has additional coverage.
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