Much Maligned Law School Cuts First-Year Class, Announces Layoffs

Which law school seems to be in full-on disaster mode right now?

onJuly 2, 2014 at 12:51 PMJuly 4, 2014 at 11:23 AM

THOMAS M. COOLEY LAW SCHOOL — PORTAL ANNOUNCEMENT — COOLEY ANNOUNCES CHANGES

As with most law schools across the country, Cooley’s enrollment and revenue have continued to decline. Despite our ongoing cost control efforts, it has become apparent that we must now reassess our costs, including our faculty and staff levels, in light of current enrollment. Thus, Cooley’s board of directors and administration are instituting a financial management plan designed to right size and reinvent the school. Unfortunately, and as has occurred at a number of other law schools, the plan will include faculty and staff layoffs. As part of the plan, Cooley will also hold off enrolling incoming first-term students at the Ann Arbor campus for fall 2014, though all currently enrolled Ann Arbor students will continue to be able to pursue the school’s full curriculum.

The plan includes the following features of particular interest to students:

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• We will work to keep tuition increases as low as possible. Details will be available in the coming weeks.
• We will continue to reward students through our already generous scholarship program.
• The 2014/15 academic calendar will not change.
• Student services will not change.

We are confident that this plan will help us remain at the forefront of innovative approaches to legal education and continue to deliver the broad, high-quality access to legal instruction students have come to expect from Cooley.

As a reminder, the fall 2014 class schedule will be posed to the portal by Friday, July 18, and registration will begin on Monday, July 21. This timing for registration will in no way affect your ability to get financial aid or student loans, if applicable. Registration will close in our usual time frame. See the registration timeline posted on the portal.

The Thomas M. Cooley Law School has a history of making transformative decisions in response to our students’ needs, while remaining financially strong. We understand the legal education is vastly different than it was even five years ago, and it will continue to change. This aggressive financial management plan is designed to ensure that we can continue our outstanding academic program while preparing us for our next steps in the 21st century.

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