Reuters, US Education Department Closure Imperils Law School Finances, Deans Say:
The Trump administration’s recent moves to shutter the U.S. Department of Education and shift management of the $1.6 trillion federal student loan program to the Small Business Administration threaten to disrupt the flow of money vital to law school operations, deans and other legal education experts said. …
Potential delays in the disbursement of federal student loans and the possible resurgence of the costlier private student loan market could result from the upheaval of the Education Department, said University of Utah Law Dean Elizabeth Kronk Warner. …
University of California, Irvine School of Law Dean Austen Parrish said the SBA's inexperience handling the massive student loan program could be problematic. “Small business loans aren’t the same as managing a student loan portfolio," Parrish said, adding that students rely on federal loans for housing and food in addition to tuition.
More than three-quarters of law students (76%) take out loans to cover their tuition and living expenses, Education Department data show. Public and private law schools use that tuition money to fund their operations, and students' financing must be in place when the school year starts in August or September. …
The federal government lends an estimated $6 billion to $7 billion annually to Juris Doctor students, said Chris Chapman, executive director of AccessLex Institute, which advocates for affordable legal education. Chapman ran the institute’s previous incarnation as a private graduate student loan lender.
Law students graduate with an average $161,300 in loans — more than any other professional or graduate-level program outside of medicine, Education Department data shows.
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