Iowa’s only public law school just went easier on out-of-staters. In a move that many other law schools are making, they’ve decided, instead of hiking tuition among decreasing enrollment trends, to decrease tuition, and this for out-of-state students, dropping tuition by nearly $8,000, a move to go in effect by fall of 2014, which has gained the accolades of the Iowa Student Bar Association, who wishes the school to stay competitive in today’s bludgeoning market.
“The value of a law degree is elevated when a school can attract students from out of state,” said Andrew Gordon, senior student of UI, and president of the Iowa Student Bar Association, as reported by the Iowa City Press – Citizen. Such a move was a strategy in “improving the law school benefits in-state and out-of-students.”
That much is more or less obvious, as the move has become a repeated one as law schools writhe and wrangle to up their enrollment during one of the harshest markets law schools have seen in decades.
With the average debt of IU law students at $95,574, any sort of relief would be delightful, if not providential, in making the school more competitive in the market. Offering something no other school offers is one matter – and in this the U.S. Ranking plays its part – and offering lower tuitions is clearly a strategy many schools are taking into consideration.