As Massachusetts is one of only six states in the nation to not have a state-run law school, UMass is making a bid for the unaccredited Southern New England School of Law.  Part of the deal would be for SNESL to give UMass the campus and its cash for free; the university would then take over operations, gain ABA accreditation (the school is currently accredited only by the New England Association of Schools and Colleges), increase enrollment, and offer a discount to Massachusetts students.

Even with the donation of the buildings, cash, and campus to UMass, this proposal is not setting SNESL to be the next UC Irvine.  The latter school offered free tuition to its entire incoming class; as a result, it built a class with an average GPA of 3.61 and an average LSAT of 167.  Currently, SNESL charges $22,175 for tuition and fees (exclusive of other expenses, such as living costs and books).  If the school is taken over by UMass, in-state students would be charged about $24,000/year.  Exclusive of living expenses, then, a student who graduates from the “economically-priced,” newly accredited, and poorly ranked state law school would accumulate about $75,000 in debt before interest, housing expenses, and bar loans.

Moreover, the UMass school could remove an economical option for students in the Commonwealth: reciprocity with UConn.  Full-time MA students are charged about $34,000 for their first year and, if they choose to obtain Connecticut residency, $20,000 per year for the next two years (here).  The total cost is almost equal to that of UMass’s proposed law school – but UConn is a well-respected, strong second-tier school, not an unaccredited upstart.  Should UMass take over SNESL, UConn would likely revoke the privileges of reduced tuition and admissions advantages.

Thus, the argument for a state law school is not that Massachusetts students need an affordable option for law school – under the definition of “affordable” that is advanced by the Commonwealth, that is already available to them via UConn – it is that students who have no hope of getting into a second-tier law school need an option for a JD that will only run them into six figures of education debt after living expenses.  Issues of the Commonwealth’s billion-dollar budget deficit aside, it is beyond senseless to trade the UConn option for the unaccredited, almost-unknown SNESL.