Tis the season for a law degree! ..for some anyway..

Yes, it's true legal fans, for a short time the State of Pennsylvania is offering part of the education for a law degree at 50% off! There is a catch..but we'll get to that at the end, just like they do.

In the wake of a 17.5 percent decline in enrollment at its Dickinson School of Law this fall, Pennsylvania State University has offered to almost halve the $41,088 annual tuition for in-state students who enroll next fall.

They will get a $20,000 renewable grant under the "Commonwealth Scholars" program, according to the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette and WESA. The discount, however, will not apply to current in-state students.

Tuition for Pennsylvania residents is nearly $20,000 at Temple University and nearly $30,000 at the University of Pittsburgh.

Source

Now they insist this isn't meant to entice people in the door. Despite the $20,000 grant running a 3 year term for those who qualify for it. No, they say it's to make school possible for those who would otherwise be qualified but unable to attend due to finances.

There is just one thing that irks me...and it was mentioned in the second paragraph.....

This ONLY applies to new students starting their new terms with Penn State. It doesn't apply to students already there and drowning in debt.

If it were truly about those who need it most, wouldn't there be at least some consideration given to existing students into their future terms? Wouldn't retention through these bad times be as important as new bodies in the doors? Well, that's assuming that their reasoning can be taken at face value of course.

reply to post by Wrabbit2000


I wouldn't touch a law degree program with a telephone pole. That "education bubble market," along with veterinary medicine, optometry, and dentistry burst a while back. The cost of attending those professional schools compared to the potential earnings has made it a losing investment, for lack of a better term. The Nov. 21 edition of the New England Journal of Medicine has an article that predicts the same "education bubble market" for those of us in medical school. So long to highly qualified professionals!

reply to post by Wrabbit2000


Oy Vey ..Ot but I just wanted to make a comment about law ...Tell me someone if there is a end to the laws being increased ? I think not ...It seems to me that we are in a perpetual law making society ..These laws that they create only incarcerate people or generate revenue's to help feed the beast that they are .They call it a justice system but its looks more like a just/ us system where we are to pay a lawyer to hopefully get us off with the crime or to show that we really didn't do it . we see the innocent go to jail while the guilty walk free .. You got the bucks you can be acquitted in most cases ..Oh and if you are a a group well you got the pass ...I find the whole thing as a joke and welcome the day when we can as a people tell these parasites to take a hike and go dig a ditch to earn a honest buck ...there rant over ....sorry OP so you get a S&F .....peace

PS ...could be that they need thei tools to keep the game going and so with the reduction in the tuision the can maintain that ...r

To address your topic more directly, luring people through the door is exactly what this grant is intending to do. The majority of professional students are on government loans for the tuition, so the schools aren't worried about their ability to pay. Tuition is all but guaranteed in most cases (as long as students meet eligibility requirements), yet it's the student on the hook once they graduate- no matter the state of the economy or job market. That nasty drop in applications is what the schools don't like, so they entice prospective students to keep numbers up- and the money rolling in from Uncle Sam. When the economy is down, higher education enrollment goes up, and along with it tuition and fees. With a sparse job market, there's a reduced ability to repay the loans...and a major problem on the horizon for government, students, and colleges/universities.

Going to medical school used to mean financial stability, but now it's becoming a calculated risk. Those physicians heading into primary care face, as of this moment, a debt to income ratio of about 85%. Law has about a 98% ratio. Business is 35%. So, in the future the brightest and best are going to Wallstreet, not your nearest hospital or into law...just because the cost of the education + interest is becoming too much to pay off.

reply to post by Wrabbit2000


My uncle use to tell me that I should become a attorney, I say what you mean professional Lier?

That's almost as bad as a banker, slime, Attorney's make great Politician's.

I wish the right kind of people took law. The ones who would not join a big firm but run private practice, part time, choosing more ethical cases, and then work PRO BONO on the constitutional abuses and the psuedo laws, and work tirelessly for the people and to clean up. Thats the kind that we need.