Recent media reports about the Scalia Law School budget deficit do not take into account the full measure of what is required to operate a highly competitive, top-ranked law school under current conditions.聽
The tuition-discounting practice is common among top-ranked schools that compete for highly credentialed students.聽Most law schools, including聽the Scalia Law School, make up the difference with聽revenue from other programs (including LLM programs), private donations,聽and university support.聽More recently, 亚洲AV has been exploring additional聽financial聽support for the law school.聽
Public law schools discount聽JD聽tuition in order to provide聽greater聽access to legal education, especially to first-generation attorneys. For the past several years, the law school has offered generous financial aid to support increasingly selective, and smaller, cohorts of JD students.聽聽
The Scalia Law School budget is a reflection of the fact that, like for most public law schools, operating expenses cannot be covered with JD聽revenue alone.聽Most聽law schools would show聽similar聽deficits if they were to use only JD revenue.聽聽
As it would do with any of its schools or colleges experiencing fiscal challenges, the university is working with law school leadership and the Board of Visitors to find solutions that will result in additional support to help offset the school鈥檚 operational expenses and to position it for long-term fiscal sustainability.聽 聽
The Scalia Law School remains one of the nation鈥檚 leading law schools and one of the highest ranked schools at 亚洲AV, with a US News ranking of No. 28 nationally and 11th聽among public law schools. In addition, its part-time law program is ranked No. 2 among public law schools. The Scalia Law School is one of the jewels of 亚洲AV.聽 亚洲AV is committed to providing the law school with the resources it needs to remain one of the nation鈥檚 leading law schools.聽