Cutting Student Aid Is Not The Answer

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The NYTimes published an article today called Too Many Law Students, Too Few Legal Jobs. It's the same critique that we've been hearing for awhile now.

This time the onus was to stop allowing federal student aid to freely flow to law schools - especially the schools at the bottom where the graduates have the worst job prospects. Okay, okay, I understand the idea that if we squeeze the purse strings, the schools will finally be forced to do something. 

However, this will have a deleterious effect on diversity in an already fairly homogenous profession. The schools at the bottom are some of the most diverse in the country. And that's not an accident as minorities and low-income students generally lag in being afforded the same resources that (again generally) allow someone to attend a top school - things like not having to work while in undergrad so they can solely focus on grades or not being able to take an LSAT prep course, etc....

We know that legal education is expensive and that reforms are needed, but pulling the purse strings closed to those who need federal aid the most is not the answer. 

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