Discounted Tuition at UNH School of Law... Hardly News.

Believe it or not, University of New Hampshire School of law is discounting tuition for in-state residents.  A whopping $4,000 off every year if you're in-state and an additional $4,000 if you're enrolled at University of New Hampshire undergrad.  That's $8,000.00!
Of course, that begs the question.  How much is tuition at UNH School of Law?  $39,000.00 a year.  That means, if you graduate from this school with $93,000 of debt for tuition alone.  That's no bargain.  UNH School of Law will be affiliated with Franklin Pierce in the fall and its number 9 in Intellectual Property.  However, it's still not worth it.  This would be real news if they cut tuition in half.  Nice PR game.  Try again.

BC Non-Grad Gets Flack Over at The Consumerist

Thanks for the tip, Jerry.  The comments on this article made me sick to my stomach.
Here's a few to turn your stomach:

A college degree grants you the opportunity to obtain careers beyond what the degree is for.
The guy hasn't even tried yet, and he doesn't actually have a degree.
If after 2 years he can't get a law job, THEN he can whine about it.


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This is someone who didn't do his research before law school. With such poor research skills, it is no wonder he can't find a job!


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It is obvious why he has no job prospects. The guy failed in what he actually contracted with the school to do. The school agreed to allow him to attend classes and gain knowledge in exchange for money. Nobody forced him to take out loans, get his degree in law, or anything else. They also never promised him a job, or a salary upon graduation.
Grow a set and be a man. This is just an idiot looking to garner attention and probably some money along the way., If I were BC, I would have said, we do not agree to the terms of your offer. Good bye.


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Yeah, what a real tempting offer... skip out on paying for 2 1/2 years of education in return for not using the last half-year. *sarcasm*

Boo freaking hoo. No college guarantees you a good job upon graduation, no matter your degree. And they CERTAINLY don't promise your career will be fulfilling.

Here's some free career advice from me to college students everywhere: Your career is YOUR responsibility. It's not your college's, it's not your boss's or employer's (once you have a job), it's not the career center's, it's not the government's.

Yes, you can get help from all of those sources, but in the end it's YOUR responsibility to find a job you want.

*****

I'd love to be able to use his reasoning every time a product or service didn't fulfill my expectations. What did he think was going to happen? That he would just be able to rack up a couple hundred grand in student loans and then magically there would be a job paying seven figures waiting for him when he got out and he would be able to pay it all back? HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAH!!! yeah, not likely. I know more starving lawyers than starving artists. People seem to forget that the reason doctors and lawyers charge so much is because they have MASSIVE amounts of debt and insurance to pay for. They typically don't make that much money. Sure there are a few who finally make it, but I'd love to see the statistics for the lawyers who wind up getting $40K jobs as paralegals because they can't afford to be a lawyer and they are being crushed by student loan debt.

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My conclusion upon reading this is clear to everyone who "knows" me.  You know that I'm mad.  He made a real attempt to cure his woes--the only way to do it actually-- and he was shut down hard by these asshole commentators.  Unfortunately, consumer debt and even gambling debt can be forgiven at the drop of a hat, and those that try to better themselves are punished for life.  What is wrong with this country?  They act like everyone is stuck with every stupid financial decision they make.  Nothing can be further from the truth.  Everyone except students can put their financial indiscretions behind them.  Either we revise the bankruptcy code to eliminate bankruptcy as an option to everyone for every type of debt--or we open it to those that are just trying to better themselves through education.  Either method would result in a better system than what we have today.

BIDER Double Header: Cooley Prof Fired and BC Law Student Seeks Refund

Poor, poor Cooley Professor.  A tenured Cooley Professor was fired without a hearing and (SURPRISE) sued! Welcome to our hell, Ex-Professor Branham.  She was fired for a simple reason, failing to teach classes:

"The law school assigned a tenured faculty member a normal and contractually permitted set of courses to teach. The faculty member refused to teach them for reasons she deemed proper, but that the law school did not. ... Indeed, it would lead to academic chaos if tenured faculty could, with impunity, refuse a lawfully and contractually permitted teaching assignment of the institution."

Branham, an associate dean, sued in 2007 after she was fired without a tenure hearing. The law school said no hearing was necessary because she "effectively abandoned her job" by refusing to teach assigned courses and moved to Illinois, where she took another job.

Oops.  I guess she found another job so she won't be joining us in unemployed and underemployed purgatory.  The issue is, why the hell did she need to teach to at Cooley if she has another job?  And why did she bring a lawsuit about it?  It boils down to this:

She claimed the school inflicted emotional distress and violated state and federal laws to protect the disabled.

I want to join this gravy train.  Being disabled comes up often when dealing with Cooley.  Can I claim a disability and sue Cooley?  Well, she lost.
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Someone emailed me once and asked me if she would be wise in asking for a refund.  I told her to go ahead... why the hell not?  Well, maybe it was my advice prompted this story.  A Boston College law student asked for a refund, via anonymous letter on an on-line publication:

The student offered to leave law school without a degree at the end of the semester in exchange for a full tuition refund — a move the erstwhile aspiring attorney says would help BC’s US News ranking because it wouldn’t have to report another graduate’s state of unemployment.

There's something in it for them.  I guess they don't think so or they might have been open to the idea.  We all know that they lie about their stats anyway:

The law school said in a statement yesterday it is “deeply concerned” about its students’ job prospects but no institution of higher education can guarantee a job after graduation. “What we can do is provide the best education possible, and work together to provide as many career opportunities as possible,” the statement said. 

I wish we could work our education like a real estate deal.  I would like to put our tuition in escrow and it would be released to our alma mater upon landing a viable job and keeping it for over 3 years.  Ha.  The money would be in escrow forever!  IOLTA funds would soar.  Dream a little dream.
Thanks Tipster!