UMass Law School "Proving Critics Wrong"

UMass Law School, not to be confused with the Massachusetts School of Law (or any of the other directional Massachusetts schools) is apparently turning into a cash cow for the good ol' Commonwealth:

With higher than expected enrollment, UMass School of Law, which operates as part of UMass Dartmouth, will turn over a lot more money this year to the state than the original projection of $674,000 in tuition revenue, officials said.

"It's subsidizing the taxpayer," UMD Chancellor Jean F. MacCormack said. "It's sending $918,000 to the commonwealth, and the commonwealth is not sending any money to it."
...
Officials had projected $5.9 million in total revenue for fiscal year 2011, but they have revised that number up to $6.9 million. Tuition is turned over to the state, while fees and private donations are used to operate the school.

Tuition at this thing is 23k for in-state students and 31k for out-of-state students.

Basically, the school accepted 36% more students than it anticipated and is apparently doing things on the cheap, which isn't entirely good, because, as one critic points out, they don't have the resources the ABA requires for accreditation, which they hope to achieve by 2017.

But my favorite line in the whole story is that last bit: tuition goes to the state, but fees and donations run the place. Isn't that screwy? Why are students expected to fund the state of Massachusetts while they're law school is floundering? And while I'm at it, wouldn't a real public university lower the costs and fees to the break even point in order to serve the public?

The real sad thing is that this place is pinning its hopes, more or less, on getting accredited six years from now. But that hasn't stopped it from selling the optimism:

Sandra Saenz, a second-year student who started when the school was still a private institution, said students are pleased with the transition so far.

"I really think everyone is very excited about this, especially the new students coming in," said Saenz, 36, who is from Seattle.

...

"I think there are many people familiar with the UMass name," she said. "It's going to be really nice to have that on my diploma."

Okay, so you're going to be 38, from Washington, and looking for an attorney job with a law school no one's heard of and you think it's going to be "really nice?" UMass is, what, the 5th or 6th nicest school in Massachusetts, and there's already an over-saturated legal market with at least three schools UMass Law doesn't have a prayer in outshining anytime soon. The only people impressed by UMass Law School are non-lawyers.

But hey, when you're desperate for good news, one year suffices to "prove critics wrong," I guess.