Academic

UC Irvine Law Announces Year-Two Admissions Strategy

By Dan Filler

UC Irvine Law School has announced two critical details about its Fall 2010 entering class. The cohort will contain 80 students (assuming the school hits its target) and these students will all receive at least half off the going tuition.   Given the rise in UC fees, however, a 50% discount still leaves  a big tab.  In-state tuition for Irvine is expected to be around $40,000 and out of staters are likely to pay 50 grand.  This means that an out of state student receiving a 50% discount will still owe $25,000.  That's a signficant cost - and there are plenty of excellent state universities that would be willing to discount the Irvine target student (i.e., someone with whopping a whopping GPA and LSAT) to a much lower price point.  (Exhibit A: the University of Alabama School of Law.)  Indeed, Irvine may now need to tangle with local competitors like Pepperdine and Loyola who will probably be offering these same students an even cheaper package. 

I expect that Dean Chemerinsky will still manage to recruit a superb class .  But given the struggles of the UC system generally,  the going will get tougher starting next fall.  

Full post as published by The Faculty Lounge on December 23, 2009 (boomark / email).