Education: Should You Get a Refund?

The University of Law, the United Kingdom’s longest established law school, announced on August 4, 2015 that if their law students are unable to find a job within 9 months of graduation, the school will refund 50 percent of the student’s tuition fees.

Let me begin by saying that all educational institutions should have to implement this type of program, as there is currently very little accountability. The smartest students get the campus interviews, but they are practically guaranteed jobs with no help from the universities they attend. School was just a formality for them; however, that is not true for most.

However, if I wanted to take advantage of this program, I could sit around on my parent’s couch for 9 months and get half my law degree tuition back. Not bad, when you consider the cost of this school is between close to $17,000 and $23,000 in US dollars.

“More than just a degree, today’s students want a clear return on their investment. For law graduates, this means one thing: securing a training contract or a full time job upon graduation. Our position as the preferred training provider to over 30 major law firms and our experience in training highly skilled law practitioners give us the confidence and the assurance that our graduates will be in employment within nine months,” said ULaw CEO David Johnston, according to the school’s press release.

Is the university saying that they have quadrupled the cost of education, so when they give half back, it appears to be a bargain?

This new policy applies to students entering school in the fall of 2015. Right now, they claim the employment rate of their new law graduates is 97 percent. Wondering how the school will be doing in a couple of years when the freshly-minted attorneys can’t (or won’t) find a job.

Education needs an overhaul, as billions are pumped into the system annually. It’s time colleges and universities dropped the fluff, and focused on careers people will actually use.

According to an article on Mashable, Brooklyn Law school announced in July that they will refund 15 percent of their students’ tuition if they cannot find a job within 9 months. The tuition at that school is currently listed at $43,237 so 15 percent is $6,485.

Nice try. I consider this a pre-emptive strike by colleges and universities to not have to face the rigors of real scrutiny of their tuition policies and their (lack of job) outcomes.

 

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