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#TaxProf Blog: UMass Law School Cuts Incoming Class By 33%, Faces $3. 8 Million Deficit

UMass Law School Cuts Incoming Class By 33%, Faces $3.8 Million Deficit

UMass Law School Cuts Incoming Class By 33%, Faces $3.8 Million Deficit ">

The University of Massachusetts School of Law has a mounting deficit, which hit $3.8 million last fiscal year, a gap expected to widen next year. UMass Dartmouth is picking up the bill for now, that school said.

The law school for now has scrapped plans to increase enrollment and instead decided to cut the size of its incoming class by a third, to 72 students. In addition, the school is not fully accredited by the American Bar Association, a generally accepted stamp of approval in the field.

Dean Mary Lu Bilek says the UMass Law School’s goal is “making sure that not only people born with silver spoons in their mouths are making the law.”.

Bar exam passage rates at the law school, another barometer of success, have fluctuated since UMass took over — the rate was 74 percent in 2011, then dipped to 54 percent the next year before rising to 70 percent in 2013, according to the most recent data available. The average bar passage rate in Massachusetts is 88 percent.

Of last year’s 81 graduates, 65 got jobs, including 31 jobs that require bar passage, according to the ABA. That is a 12 percent increase over the previous year’s class.

UMass Law runs on about $9.3 million annually, and last year brought in $5.5 million in revenue, according to data provided by the university. In 2010, UMass projected the school would have developed a $3 million surplus by last year, but that has not happened.

The school has adjusted its goals, and now expects to be self-sufficient when it increases its enrollment to 450, hopefully by 2018. This year it has 213 students.

Bilek is frank about how UMass is trying to bolster its academic profile, by admitting fewer students and those with higher LSAT scores, and by offering more scholarships. Last year it spent $1.3 million on scholarships for its 268 students.

http://taxprof.typepad.com/taxprof_blog/2015/05/umass-law-school-.html