Many TFL readers will already be aware that Appalachian Law School has been cited by the ABA for non-compliance with Standard 501(a) and (b) with respect to the requirements that the Law School not admit applicants who do not appear capable of earning the J.D. degree and passing the bar.
Appalachian’s entering class credentials in 2016 were extraordinarily low at 147/143/140 and 3.10/2.79/2.60. This meant that a substantial majority of their students, possibly up to 74%, were in the very high to extremely high risk category.
Although Appalachian received notice of their non-compliance in May 2017, the school went ahead and enrolled even more extremely high risk students for 2017. Out of 73 entering students, at least half, and likely closer to two thirds were in the very high and extremely high risk categories. Although Appalachian raised its 25% LSAT by one point to 141, it lowered its already woeful 25% GPA to 2.51, the lowest in the country.
Incredibly, Appalachian is still contending through a statement on its website that all of the students they admitted “appeared to be capable of completing ASL’s academic program and passing the bar exam.” In other words, Appalachian does not accept the ABA’s finding of non-compliance with Standard 501.
However, the schools claims to have “learned” “from an outside expert” that their “admission procedures will be strengthened by adopting a minimum LSAT, UGPA and an Index that combines both of those features based on a formula recommended by the Law School Admissions Council.” According to ASL, these “admission adjustments will be implemented as a core element of the Law School’s reliable plan” to come into compliance with Standard 501.
So it seems that Appalachian will follow in the footsteps of North Carolina Central University and adopt an LSAT cutoff. My guess is they have adopted the same 142 cutoff as NCC (no one below 142) for admissions for the Fall 2018 entering class. This appears to be a number that the ABA is comfortable with, despite the ABA’s general misgivings about LSAT cutoffs.
Unlike North Carolina Central however, Appalachian does not have the backing of a University to support it during a temporary reduction in tuition revenue. Indeed, according to an article in Virginia Lawyers Weekly, the school is under serious financial pressure, with an economic development loan specifically tied to sufficient enrollment the only thing keeping the school afloat. It is an open question whether Appalachian will be able to raise its admission standards and still meet the enrollment targets to receive additional loan disbursements.
Complicating things for Appalachian is the fact that the school now has credible competition from Lincoln Memorial University Duncan School of Law in Knoxville, Tennessee, (177 miles away from Grundy, VA) a school with a similar mission to serve the Appalachian region. It is not clear that there are enough qualified law students in this region to support both of these schools (not to mention the University of Kentucky and West Virginia University). Duncan Law School is facing its own problems. Despite admitting a much stronger class than Appalachian in 2017 -- 100 students with a 152/148/145 LSAT and UGPA at 3.47/3.48/2.64 -- Duncan was also recently found out of compliance by the ABA with Standard 501 on Admissions. This finding seems to be related primarily to Duncan's non-transfer attrition rate, which has exceeded 20% for each of the last three years, which leads to a presumption that the school is admitting too many students without the capability to succeed in law school. If both these schools have to raise standards, they will be competing for an even smaller pool of eligible candidates.
Incidentally, both of these schools received huge windfalls from the closure of Charlotte Law School last year. 28 Charlotte students transferred to Duncan (more than replacing the 16 students Duncan lost through non-transfer attrition), and 18 Charlotte students transferred to Appalachian. Indeed, without these Charlotte students, Appalachian would likely have fell short of their enrollment goal for 2017-18.
Stay tuned for further developments.
Comments