Florida Coastal School of Law

[planejane]

I am finishing my bachelor's degree this year (will be done 12/04).  I plan to take the LSAT's in June.  I am considering to apply to Florida Coastal School of Law in Jacksonville.  Does anyone have any info about them?  I know they are ABA approved and they are about $20,000 per year.  Is it worth the money?

I will be 34 years old by the time I go; however, I plan to practice aviation law.  I have been in aviation for 10 years now and I am in the Naval Reserves.  Jacksonville would work out great because I can drill at NAS Jacksonville and go to school.  My daughter would love being near the beach too.

Let me know your thoughts and opinions of the school.

Thanks in advance.
Christie

[corv]

It may be about 20K a year -- but the school does well with offering scholarships to students, so keep that in mind.

There are a few perspectives and I posted my own at http://www.lawschooldiscussion.org/prelaw/index.php/topic,28166.0.html 

Check that out and good luck!

[balki424]

It costs $22K per year, and they offer good scholarships.  I've heard only good things about the school.  Also the area is really nice, and the school is 20 minutes from the beach.

[chico]

At the university of florida the Coastal people went to recruit and gave a presentation. I was unimpressed. I recommend against the "school" unless you live in jacksonville and want a JD to help you in your non-law job. It's for profit, which is an abomination since their key concern is making money, not educating people. The place isn't a campus, just a dumpy office building. Avoid any school that isn't part of a university. Avoid the taint unless you have no other choice.

[jeflord]

Abomination?  That gets my vote for overstatment of the day.

[jeflord]

At the university of florida the Coastal people went to recruit and gave a presentation. I was unimpressed. I recommend against the "school" unless you live in jacksonville and want a JD to help you in your non-law job. It's for profit, which is an abomination since their key concern is making money, not educating people. The place isn't a campus, just a dumpy office building. Avoid any school that isn't part of a university. Avoid the taint unless you have no other choice.

The FCSL is in the business of educating, so profit only comes if they are successful in meeting their goals.  People can always transfer out, or quit.  They have to be successful at providing an education if they are to have any hopes of making a profit.

[chico]

While it's true that any business has to offer a good service to make a profit, there are ethical considerations that must be answered in regards to profiteering in higher education. Students are both consumers AND products of the same institution. .  thus the conflict.

What is the motivation for a profiteering law school? Get as much money as possible. The standards are always lower and there is a hidden factor to keep unqualified people in school to leech out more tuition fees from them. Florida coastal's bar passage was quite low the last time I checked, considering they do give scholarships to high lsat scorers, which prevents a total collapse. If they let in almost anyone (i know they have standards, but relatively speaking they are VERY low) what does that say about you when you hold their degree?

There is a similar problem in for-profit Psych.D programs, accepting too many people, and not caring for standards as much, just for money. It is a conflict of interest.

I would never go to a for-profit institution for higher education. It essentially makes it a trade school and not a professional school. If I want to learn automobile mechanics, I'll pay someone a profit to teach me. For knowledge, I have my suspicions.

Also consider that even if FCLS is perfectly fine, a LOT of people in acadmia and professions feel similar to me, and will look down on any profiteering law school, right or wrong, which in turn hurts the degree's value.

The average hiring partner in FLorida is from UF, and I can tell you the reputation given to fl coastal is pretty low, if known at all. . . however I admit, anything other than miami, UF, fsu, will be looked down at anyway (note: except for Stetson, which is in between those two groups. Stetson is not held in contempt)

[jeflord]

While it's true that any business has to offer a good service to make a profit, there are ethical considerations that must be answered in regards to profiteering in higher education. Students are both consumers AND products of the same institution. .  thus the conflict.

What is the motivation for a profiteering law school? Get as much money as possible. The standards are always lower and there is a hidden factor to keep unqualified people in school to leech out more tuition fees from them. Florida coastal's bar passage was quite low the last time I checked, considering they do give scholarships to high lsat scorers, which prevents a total collapse. If they let in almost anyone (i know they have standards, but relatively speaking they are VERY low) what does that say about you when you hold their degree?

There is a similar problem in for-profit Psych.D programs, accepting too many people, and not caring for standards as much, just for money. It is a conflict of interest.

I would never go to a for-profit institution for higher education. It essentially makes it a trade school and not a professional school. If I want to learn automobile mechanics, I'll pay someone a profit to teach me. For knowledge, I have my suspicions.

Also consider that even if FCLS is perfectly fine, a LOT of people in acadmia and professions feel similar to me, and will look down on any profiteering law school, right or wrong, which in turn hurts the degree's value.

The average hiring partner in FLorida is from UF, and I can tell you the reputation given to fl coastal is pretty low, if known at all. . . however I admit, anything other than miami, UF, fsu, will be looked down at anyway (note: except for Stetson, which is in between those two groups. Stetson is not held in contempt)

That is an interesting position, but it is a bit elitist.

Re: unqualified people, Florida Coastal has most recently had quite good Bar Passage rates (2nd in the state according to the most recent info).  LSAT is far and away the measure that nearly all schools use to determine qualification.  Where should the line be drawn? 175? 160?  At what point is a person poorly qualified to be a law student?  Answer: when they can't get the grades.

If they let in almost anyone, and let's face it - they do to some extent, what does that say about me?  It says that I chose to go there because I liked the school.  It says that I am not defined by or brought down in my own estimation because of my association with an organization that elitists consider to be beneath them.  It says that I believe that my association with an institution raises that insitution up, not vice versa.

The degree's value is what it is.  It will allow me to sit for the bar.  It will allow me to practice law.  It is not a degree from UF, but a degree from UF is not a degree from Harvard.

I find the concept that a for-profit institution is automatically bad to be crazy.  If it weren't for profits in the world, there wouldn't be any tax revenue to fund the elitist state schools, or philanthropic dollars to fund the elitist private schools.

I feel pity for those who are contemptuous of anything different.

[LaneSwerver]

Their bar pass rate on last report was 75%. Statewide is 78%. Seems pretty good to me.

[rick8481]

I feel that Florida Coastal's rep has very little to do with the fact that they are for profit, and a great deal to do with the fact that the school has not existed long enough to build a rep.  Certainly those in academia may frown upon for-profit schools.  However, unless you are wanting to be a professor, there is no use sweating the ethical implications of for profit schools.  Like you said chico "a LOT of people in acadmia and professions feel similar to me."  The professional world probably doesn't care too much about the for profit nature of FCSL.  At least I cannot imagine why.


UF, FSU, UM and Stetson all have better reps because they have been here longer.  I think that FCSL has performed impressively given the short time that they have been around and the improvements in their bar pass rates.