Charlotte School of Law: Their Students Deserved Better

Law School is an amazing and challenging undertaking. Most law students give up three years of their lives to invest in an education that will allow them opportunities for advancement in a profession where they may not only find personal success, but also a chance to make an impact for their future clients. After three years of dedicated study, hard work and significant financial costs, law students still have one more hurdle, the dreaded Bar Exam. Looking back on it, I am very thankful that time in my is over and I am willing to bet that while some lawyers may look back on it fondly, they certainly would not want to have to go back and do it all over again. Even under the most ideal circumstances, law school and the Bar Exam is in itself a rigorous undertaking. I cannot imagine being in the position that students at the Charlotte School of Law currently find themselves in.

The Charlotte School of Law is a private for-profit law school in Charlotte, NC. At one time, the school had more law students than any other school in the state of North Carolina. In its current condition, the Charlotte School of Law is on probation with the American Bar Association (ABA) and it has had its federal loan funding taken away by the Department of Education. Additionally the school has had to let go a significant amount of its teaching staff. The school’s ABA troubles are significant because if you already don’t know, a legal degree from a non ABA accredited school will not allow you to sit for the Bar Exam in most states. The issue with federal loan funding is significant because the majority of the school’s students are using federally guaranteed loans to pay their tuition and for their living expenses.

Can you imagine being in your last semester of law school where you have amounted over six-figures worth of student loan debt, worked really hard to make it through five semesters of law school classes and then during winter break before you start your last semester, you find out that there is no money to pay for that last semester? Imagine then the school doesn’t really tell you much and you hear that the school is firing your professors. Imagine being in a position where you may not be able to transfer to any law school and even if you do, many of your law school credits may not be accepted and you may have to retake the same classes again. Imagine being admitted to a law school when the school knew that your chances of graduating were minimal and that the likelihood that you would pass a Bar Exam is even smaller. These are realistic examples of what some current and past Charlotte School of Law students have had to face because “the ABA repeatedly found that the Charlotte School of Law does not prepare students for participation in the legal profession.”

There are accusations against the Charlotte School of Law that say the school admitted students that had no business attending law school in the first place. Other accusations against the school include the school’s inability to graduate students that can pass the Bar Exam. The Charlotte School of Law’s students have consistently found themselves at the bottom when it comes to bar passage rates. Charlotte School of law derives its income from the millions of dollars that it gets annually from the federally guaranteed loans. After years of failure, the ABA released their damaging assessment of the school this past year, resulting in the school being placed on probation. This was significant enough for the Department of Education to finally realize that they were giving money to a school whose business model is based on admitting unqualified students that pay the school with the federally guaranteed loans. If the admitted students are successful in law school, the school continues to make money from their federally guaranteed loans until they graduate. If the students aren’t successful in law school, the school can just admit more unqualified students that can take out more loans. This cycle eventually got out of hand and this is why the school and their students find themselves in this awful position.

I would encourage anyone that wants to be a lawyer to aim high, work hard and make it happen. I wish that I could say that I believe that this profession is for everyone, but unfortunately some people are not up to the task of succeeding in law school or passing the Bar Exam. The Charlotte School of Law and its leadership knew this and it admitted students that it shouldn’t have. Those bad bets have cost the school its future and most importantly it has affected the entire student body, alumni and every student that has ever been admitted to the school. As lawsuits continue to be filed against the school and more information comes to light regarding this very sad situation, it is my most sincere hope that the students injured by the Charlotte School of Law are either able to complete their educations or able to discharge the loans that they accumulated while attending Charlotte School of Law.