U Washington Dean: ‘Big Beautiful Bill’ May Cause 50% Of Law Schools to Close
“starting July 1, 2026, the bill kills Grad PLUS loans and caps unsubsidized federal loans to law students at $50,000 a year and $200,000 for graduate education over a lifetime”
There are some people who would argue that this is a good thing.
From the ABA Journal:
University Of Washington Dean: Student Loan Changes In Trump’s Big Beautiful Bill May Cause 50% Of Law Schools To Close
The One Big Beautiful Bill’s mandate to kill Grad PLUS Loans and impose strict limits on student borrowing has law school administrators scrambling to sort through the law’s restrictions as they dig into data, shift messaging, reconsider scholarship funding and determine how new outcome rules will impact their schools.
“The message that we’re trying to get out to schools is ‘Don’t panic,’” says Gisele Joachim, Law School Admission Council vice president for law school engagement. “We just don’t even know everything yet.”
But what is known is that starting July 1, 2026, the bill kills Grad PLUS loans and caps unsubsidized federal loans to law students at $50,000 a year and $200,000 for graduate education over a lifetime.
“You can see where that wouldn’t be enough,” Joachim says, “either because the tuition on its own is above that, as it certainly is in most cases, or the cost of attendance is more than the $50,000.”
According to the 509 data provided by law schools to the American Bar Association, only 13 law schools have a total cost of attendance of less than $50,000 per year, says Stephen Brown, assistant dean of enrollment at Fordham University School of Law. “They should be advertising themselves to students as great options with costs less than the new federal direct loan cap,” he adds. …
Small private law schools could be hit especially hard, administrators contacted by the ABA Journal say, impacting how they are run—and, possibly, if they survive.
“This could shut down many law schools,” says University of Washington School of Law Dean Tamara Lawson. “We’re under 200 law schools now. Maybe we become 100 law schools.” …
While law schools have many levers they can adjust regarding students’ ultimate costs, lowering tuition prices isn’t an option at every law school, Lawson says. “ …
Adjustments in how scholarships are awarded and funded could change to help students offset a school’s sticker price, administrators say.
Based on the 509 data studied by LSAC, “There is significant offset from scholarships for many students, and at some schools, it’s the vast majority,” Joachim says. “I don’t know if the schools will have the ability or financial wherewithal to put more money in those pots. But again, there could be a shifting of sorts of priorities of who that money goes to.”
Hat tip to the TaxProfBlog.
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even more winning …..
Think about it folks. If they shut down EVERY law school for 20 years, there would STILL be lawyers around.
Kinda makes the case that law schools are vastly overcharging for degrees expecting Uncle Sam to guarantee the loans and pay them off. Thanks to Obama having the Federal Government take over the student loan industry the universities know that they can charge whatever they want and if there is a default we, the taxpayer, will step in.
they’ll just keep rubber stamping approval of the low IQ crowds degrees no matter what
Hey – how about getting rid of deadwood administrators so you can lower tuition?
Isn’t it Brown University that has a greater than 1:1 administrator to student ratio? Look at any public school or University and the amount of administrators has skyrocketed compared to the number of students remaining nearly the same.
Perhaps I’m wrong, but it seems to me that if loans for tuition/higher education were good credit risks, banks would be happy provide them. The fact that federal and state governments have to provide them tells me they probably shouldn’t be using our money to make these risky loans in the first place.
“‘Big Beautiful Bill’ May Cause 50% Of Law Schools to Close”
Have any of the administrators at these allegedly doomed schools considered cutting costs and prices to be more in line with demand?
I graduated from law school in 1980 from a private law school. My final year tuition was $4000. Adjusted for inflation, tuition for 2025 would be $17,500. The actual tuition for the same school is $61,500. Undergraduate tuitions are likewise out of control. Unlimited government loans have allowed higher education to go out of control. Maybe these limits will force colleges to go back to basic affordable education.
They could start by cutting their own bloated salaries and then the salaries of their teachers many of which teach 1 class if that. They could also cut the number of administrators. They won’y make any changes though,
This is interesting. Since Law schools really have little in the way of cost structures to support expensive labs (such as hospitals for medical schools, or particle accelerators for physics), the cost for Law schools must all be professor and staff salaries. Got to cut the DEI staff overhead! Another way to get the unit cost down is to increase enrollment. But that would result in more lawyers, more open market competition, hungrier lawyers, lower fees, and thus bad for lawyers.
Also of note is that this exposes the lie about the Biden student loan forgiveness that was just for those poor graduates. No, it included those well off lawyers that seem to be having a difficult time paying off their loans without help from Joe-the-plumber.
This is wrong.
The rot is closer to 80%.
We need to aim higher.
Sounds like a plus to me.
Require institutions of higher education to act as secondarily liable for the student loans.
How about if these law school students do something to help pay their own way, like getting a part job, taking an extra year to get their degree, or enlist in the military? What novel ideas! As a bonus, they’ll get a practical view of the real world outside the ivory tower. We already have too many arrogant sharks.
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… part TIME job …
What’s an edit button cost? Anybody know?
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Isn’t a part job what that Swarthmore kid got/wants?
the military is already and option .. the military will pay for law school .. you serve as an officer for x amount of time not sure if its 4 years or 6.
they do the same for med school.
They do that for a number of technical schools like nuke stuff. The length of commitment required is one reason I didn’t go into nuclear propulsion when the Navy came calling but they will give you some of the best training in the world for free.
What ever would we do with a shortage of lawyers??
I’m liking this more and more every day.
Law school doesn’t need to be expensive. All you need is a room, a few books and computer terminals and a couple of dozen insrtuctors. Forty years ago George Washington Law School tuition was less than $5,000 per year while the University’s med school charged over $50,000. Then the University figured out that the law school could be a profit center too and tuition rose. Generally, tuition goes up so that the administrative class can live parasitically off the students.