Law Schools, Money

Law School Fee Waivers: We Won't Touch Your Children Edition

Prospective law students always get excited when they're offered application fee waivers. But what happens when a law school offers prospective applicants a fee waiver after its undergraduate institution is involved in one of the biggest college sports scandals of all time? Talk about bad timing....

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Prospective law students always get excited when they’re offered application fee waivers. Law school application fees can run high, and getting tossed a freebie is a nice way to give your bank account a break. Normally, these kind of fee waivers aren’t that out of the ordinary. Offering application fee waivers is standard practice at most law schools.

But what happens when a law school offers prospective applicants a fee waiver after its undergraduate institution is involved in one of the biggest college sports scandals of all time? Talk about bad timing….

Last week, many prospective law students received an email from Amanda DiPolvere, acting assistant dean of admissions at Pennsylvania State University – Dickinson School of Law. The subject line of that email read, “Congratulations! Your application fee has been waived.”

The Daily Beast has more on the contents of the email, but it stated, in relevant part:

We know you have a lot to think about right now and we hope that Penn State Law is among the top law schools you are considering. No doubt you have seen recent headlines regarding Penn State University.

Penn State’s new president is dedicated to restoring the trust of all people Penn State serves and to a renewed focus on Penn State’s status as one of the world’s preeminent research universities. To make it easier for you to apply, we have waived your application fee.

Dean DiPolvere stated that this was just a run-of-the-mill email, denying that these fee waiver solicitations were sent in light of Penn State’s Jerry Sandusky / Joe Paterno scandal. Prospective law students, however, didn’t see it that way. They took to Twitter and began bashing the school:

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Ouch. Epic fail. These 0Ls wouldn’t touch Penn State Law with a ten-foot pole.

It seems like most saw the emails as a lame ploy made in an attempt to divert attention from the school’s now scandalous name, à la “Please apply to Penn State Law. We promise we won’t touch your children. Okay, fine. We’ll try not to touch your children. We won’t even make you pay.”

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So, readers, what do you think? Would you apply to Penn State Law free of charge in the wake of the scandal? Was this a shameless attempt to lure prospective law students to an alleged child-toucher’s paradise, or just standard procedure?

Penn State Law Offers Fee Waiver; Prospective Applicants Jeer [Daily Beast]
0Ls Jeer Penn State’s Offer to Waive $60 Law School Application Fee [TaxProf Blog]
Penn State Law Application Fee Waivers Draw Reaction [Law Librarian Blog]

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