Harvard Law School's shield
The Harvard Crimson has a spot-on "sign of the times" story today: Harvard Law School is scrapping a program -- started just last year -- that waives 3L tuition for students who commit to some form of public service law for five years after graduation.
The reason, according to the Crimson? Many more students applied for the tuition waiver than the school anticipated. Per the Crimson story: "Last year, over 110 first-year students indicated their interest in the program -- 50 percent more than the targeted number," according to Elena Kagan, who was dean at the time.
The waiver program has a $3 million annual budget and is scheduled to last through 2012, the Crimson says. In an e-mail to students, which you can read at Above the Law, current dean Martha Minow explains that all current students will be able to participate in the program and receive the full third-year waiver. But it is "unlikely" that future students will get the same benefit.
But they'll get something, the Crimson reports. A Harvard Law committee is studying other possible incentives for students to enter public service law and will announce a new program in March, the paper reports.
Harvard also is cutting per-student funding levels for students who do public service work in the summer, but it will continue expanding loan repayment aid programs for all graduates, the Crimson reports.
This article first appeared on The Am Law Daily blog on AmericanLawyer.com.
