History edit
Founding and initial growth edit
In 2004, private equity firm Sterling Partners (owners of Sylvan Learning Centers and Laureate International Universities) bought the Florida Coastal School of Law. With the purchase of that school, the group created Infilaw, a consortium of for-profit ABA-accredited law schools. Infilaw launched Pheonix School of Law later in 2004, and the Charlotte School of Law in 2006.[1]
Infilaw increased revenues at these schools by lowering admissions standards and increasing class sizes. Florida Coastal Law School grew from 904 students in 2004 to 1,741 students in 2010. Arizona Summit grew from 336 students in 2008 to 1,092 students in 2012. Charlotte Law School grew from 481 students in 2009 to 1,151 students in 2011.[2] The decline in student selectivity at Infilaw schools coincided with changes to the Direct Loan program that allow students attending graduate school to borrow up to the full cost of attendance. Because of these changes, law students could fully finance their education, regardless of the likelihood of their obtaining post-graduate employment.[3]
In the period between 2007 and 2012, Infilaw paid $510,000 to lobby Higher Ed. [4]
ABA reform edit
As the law school reform movement gained momentum, the ABA's Section of Legal Education and Admissions began implementing changes to increase transparency in ABA-accredited schools. Among these reforms was the requirement that law schools give more detailed and complete information about employment outcomes for the previous year's graduating class. In part due to the ABA's reforms, law school applications dropped from 88,000 in 2010 to 55,000 in 2014. Despite Infilaw's rapid growth in the 2000s, the company saw a drastic decline in applications, from 12,754 applications in 2010 to 8,066 in 2013.[5]
Attempted purchase of Charleston edit
In August 2013, two of the three owners of the for-profit Charleston School of Law announced they were selling the school to Infilaw. Faculty, students, and alumni groups voiced objections to the sale, concerned that in order to boost enrollment, Infilaw would lower admissions standards, resulting in lowered bar passage and employment rates, which would in turn damage the school's reputation. As a result of the controversy, the sale has been put on hold. [6]
Controversy edit
Admissions selectivity edit
Infilaw has been critized for lowering admissions standards to increase class sizes. The LSAT median at Florida Coastal is 144 with a 2.97 GPA median, making the school one of the least selective in the country. Arizona Summit has a 144 LSAT median and a 2.88 GPA median, while Charlotte has a 144 LSAT median and a 2.91 GPA median. Out of 204 accredited law schools, Infilaw schools constitute 3 of the 5 least selective law schools in the United States by LSAT median, and 3 of the 10 least selective law schools in the United States by GPA.[7]
Writing for the Atlantic, professor Paul Campos described the effect lowered LSAT medians may have on bar passage rates:
Florida Coastal’s 2013 entering class had a median LSAT score of 144, which was in the 23rd percentile of all test-takers. Fully a quarter of the class had a score of 141 or lower, which meant that they scored among the bottom 15 percent of test-takers. (The entering classes of Charlotte and Arizona Summit had identical median and bottom-quarter LSAT scores, suggesting that these numbers were chosen somewhere high up on the corporate ladder.) Frakt pointed out to the faculty that the LSAT scores of entering students correlate fairly strongly with the probability that those students will eventually pass a state bar examination, which is of course a prerequisite for actually becoming a lawyer. He noted that according to statistics from the Law School Admission Council—the organization that administers the LSAT—scores higher than those in the 60th percentile correlate with a low risk of failing to eventually pass a bar exam. Scores ranking from the 60th to the 40th percentile, by contrast, correlate with a moderate but rapidly increasing risk of failure. Scores below the 40th percentile correlate with a high risk of failure, and scores below the 25th percentile correlate with an extreme risk of failure, to the point where it is quite unlikely that someone with an LSAT score below 145 will ever pass a bar exam.[8]
Employment outcomes edit
According to official ABA-required disclosures, 36% of graduates from Infilaw schools obtain full-time, long-term, JD-required employment within nine months of graduation. The statistics for Florida Coastal, Charlotte, and Arizona Summit are 29.5%, 30.3%, and 40.5%, respectively.[9] One quarter of Infilaw grads reported being unemployed nine months after graduation.
However, Infilaw schools have been criticized for inflating their employment rates by funding jobs for graduates until the nine month period for disclosing employment outcomes has elapsed.[10]
Costs edit
Despite low employment outcomes, tuition at InfiLaw schools remains high. The Law School Transparency projected debt-financed cost of attendance at Florida Coastal, Charlotte School of Law, and Arizona Summit is $246,459, $239,308, and $243,864, respectively.[11]
Writing for the Atlantic, Paul Campos calculated the debt for students attending InfiLaw schools:
How much debt do graduates of the three InfiLaw schools incur? The numbers are startling. According to data from the schools themselves, more than 90 percent of the 1,191 students who graduated from InfiLaw schools in 2013 carried educational debt, with a median amount, by my calculation, of approximately $204,000, when accounting for interest accrued within six months of graduation—meaning that a single year’s graduating class from these three schools was likely carrying about a quarter of a billion dollars of high-interest, non-dischargeable, taxpayer-backed debt.[12]
According to US News and World Reports, Florida Coastal School of Law has the worst estimated return on investment of any accredited law school in the United States.[13]
Use of conditional scholarships edit
Most law schools use merit or need based scholarships to attract students. At some schools, these scholarships are conditional upon a student's performance in their first or second year. Some schools have been criticized for structuring scholarship programs in such a way as to ensure that students lose their scholarship money.[14] InfiLaw schools have been accused of engaging in these practices. According to official ABA required disclosures, the percentage of students losing their scholarships in 2013 at Florida Coastal, Charlotte, and Arizona Summit was 34.8%, 42.5%, and 44.3%, respectively.[15]
Deceptive marketing edit
In 2012, six graduates of Florida Coastal School of Law filed suit against the school for deceptive marketing practices. The suit centers on the 95% employment rate that Florida Coastal reported in its marketing materials. The suit alleges, “These numbers are false because Florida Coastal’s reported employment numbers include any type of employment, including jobs that have absolutely nothing to do with the legal industry, do not require a [law] degree or are temporary or part-time in nature."[16] According to Florida Coastal's official 2013 ABA required disclosures, 29.5% of the Class of 2013 found full-time, long-term, JD-required employment nine months after graduation. [17]
References edit
- ^ "For-profit law schools on the rise".
- ^ "The Law-School Scam".
- ^ "The Law-School Scam".
- ^ "Infilaw System".
- ^ "The Law-School Scam".
- ^ "Private-Equity Group's for-Profit Law School Plan Draws Critics".
- ^ "What do you want to compare?".
- ^ "The Law-School Scam".
- ^ "What do you want to compare?".
- ^ "The Law-School Scam".
- ^ "What do you want to compare?".
- ^ "The Law-School Scam".
- ^ "U.S. News Lists Infilaw school as WORST for return on investment".
- ^ "Law Students Lose the Grant Game as Schools Win".
- ^ "Conditional Scholarships".
- ^ "Florida Coastal School of Law grads file suit against school, allege deceptive practices".
- ^ "What do you want to compare?".