Need- and merit-based aid also planned to make law school opportunity more accessible; application deadline extended to July 30
The University of Massachusetts School of Law today announced that it would freeze its tuition and mandatory law school-related fees for the next three years at current levels. The announcement guarantees that students entering this fall will be better able to predict the total cost of their education and keep that cost at about 50 percent of private alternatives.
Under the cost freeze plan, the following annual tuition and law school fee rates will remain in place:
Full-time in-state - $23,068
Full-time out-of-state - $30,760
Full-time regional/proximity - $24,936
Part-time in-state -- $17,300.88
Part-time out-of-state - $23,069.88
Part-time regional/proximity - $18,702
Â鶹¹ÙÍø Law will also continue to offer significant merit- and need-based aid that can further lower the out-of-pocket costs for students. Complete law school cost and financial aid information is available at umassd.edu/law.
The cost freeze follows recent announcements that Â鶹¹ÙÍø Law has secured provisional accreditation by the American Bar Association, allowing graduates to take the bar exam in any state; and the appointment of CUNY School of Law Associate Dean and Professor Mary Lu Bilek as Â鶹¹ÙÍø Law dean. Â鶹¹ÙÍø Law also announced today that it is extending its application deadline to July 30.
"As the Commonwealth's first public law school, we have a mission to provide individuals with the aspiration, talent and will to succeed as citizen lawyers the opportunity to achieve their dream,'' said Â鶹¹ÙÍø Dartmouth Chancellor Jean F. MacCormack. "Freezing fees at this moment in the law school's history, given the significant base resources that the school has started with, and recognizing that we are just beginning our journey, is the right and smart thing to do."
"Last semester alone, our law students donated 5,500 hours of legal services to the community," Chancellor MacCormack noted. "That is a testament to our students' public service ethic and to the power of Â鶹¹ÙÍø Law to have a positive impact on society. We want to do all we can to open the doors of Â鶹¹ÙÍø Law to such citizens."
"The establishment of Â鶹¹ÙÍø Law is about mission, not money,'' said Â鶹¹ÙÍø President Robert Caret. "I want to commend Chancellor MacCormack, Dean Hillinger and the law school team for staying true to the University's mission to provide a quality and affordable law school option within the Commonwealth. Â鶹¹ÙÍø Law is off to a great start.''
Professor Bilek, who will take office the first week of July, said, "A public law school has a special obligation to provide accessible legal education and to graduate lawyers who are civic-minded. By controlling the cost of their education, we open up many more options for them. Graduating from Â鶹¹ÙÍø Law, they will be able to consider using their skills for public and civic purpose because they will not be as heavily burdened by debt. I am proud to have been chosen to lead a school that not only says it has a mission of access and public service, but has taken action to achieve it."
Professor Bilek served as Interim Dean of the CUNY School of Law School during the 2005-06 academic year. As Academic Dean for the first three deans of CUNY Law, she played leadership roles in developing and implementing its innovative curriculum for practice, insuring that its policies and its programs supported access to legal education for students from communities underrepresented in the profession, and moving the law school towards full ABA and Association of American Law Schools accreditation.
The American Bar Association recently notified Â鶹¹ÙÍø Law that it has been granted provisional national accreditation. The ABA's Council of the Section of Legal Education and Admissions to the Bar stated: "The School has established that it is in substantial compliance with each of the Standards and has a reliable plan for bringing itself into full compliance with the Standards within three years after receiving provisional approval."
Â鶹¹ÙÍø the University of Massachusetts School of Law
Â鶹¹ÙÍø Law was created in 2010, establishing the first public law school in Massachusetts. Â鶹¹ÙÍø Law, one of eight colleges and schools at the Â鶹¹ÙÍø, currently has 325 students. The school's modern facility is located 5 minutes from the Â鶹¹ÙÍø Dartmouth main campus and 1 minute from I-195. Like Â鶹¹ÙÍø Dartmouth, the law school is dedicated to engaging its students in the life of the community, and its students provided more than 5,500 hours of legal services to the region last semester.