JFK School of Law at NCU

Discussion in 'General Distance Learning Discussions' started by chrisjm18, Oct 1, 2020.

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  1. chrisjm18

    chrisjm18 Well-Known Member

    The School of Law in its entirety is being relocated to Northcentral University (NCU). This means that the current dean of JFK School of Law, and all faculty, will be relocating to NCU along with our School of Law programs (JD and BA Legal Studies/Paralegal Cert Programs). The School of Law will remain the John F. Kennedy School of Law at Northcentral University, bringing with it the legacy, vision and mission, and values of the law school.

    https://www.jfku.edu/program/juris-doctor-2/#:~:text=Kennedy School of Law at,Law will be its 7th.

    John F. Kennedy School of Law at NCU: Coming January 2021

    https://www.ncu.edu/jfk-law?adkey=NUSOSFCBSOL&utm_medium=organic-social&utm_source=facebook&utm_campaign=school-of-law&utm_content=moderation&fbclid=IwAR1syx3ReVa4JthfleNIjcTWlXq5mx5WQKDVinaoWiSkoSFZKJW5_Qly-WA

    Total Estimated Cost of Program*
    Juris Doctor (JD) - $66,502

    https://www.ncu.edu/tuition-admissions/tuition
     
  2. nosborne48

    nosborne48 Well-Known Member

    CalBar accredited online J.D. for a third the cost of attending any ABA approved law school in California, not counting the cost of living while in a resident three year program. For a large fraction of California lawyer wanna-bes this program should be very tempting indeed.
     
  3. TEKMAN

    TEKMAN Semper Fi!

    Is that $66,502 is really expensive for non-ABA JD?
     
  4. nosborne48

    nosborne48 Well-Known Member

    Non ABA California law schools come in two main flavors, accredited and unaccredited. For an accredited program, JFK is on the low end but an unaccredited correspondence program, such as from Taft Law, would be cheaper still. Taft is, in fact accredited by DEAC but not by the California Bar yet.
     
  5. Garp

    Garp Well-Known Member

    What is the benefit of this program at $66,000 for a California Bar Accredited non ABA JD when compared with NWCU at $12,000 (also a California Bar Accredited non ABA JD)?
     
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  6. nosborne48

    nosborne48 Well-Known Member

    Excellent question.
     
  7. devninja89

    devninja89 New Member

    66k certainly seems steep for a non-accredited school, particularly when there are cheaper CalBar options. I am not a resident of California, but just curious, what percentage of graduates from CalBar accredited only schools actually manage to pass the state bar? Of those, how many actually end up practicing law in any meaningful capacity to be able to pay back such a loan? Seems fiscal prudence should make a school such as this a very poor choice, unless the success percentage is much higher than what I'm visioning.
     
  8. nosborne48

    nosborne48 Well-Known Member

    One reason for going with JFK is that it is regionally accredited. I don't think NWCU is? As to the bar pass percentage, CalBar publishes a pretty detailed summary by school. You can find it at calbar.ca.gov
     
  9. SteveFoerster

    SteveFoerster Resident Gadfly Staff Member

    It's not, but I can't imagine any circumstance where that justifies a fifty-four thousand dollar difference. I mean, maybe you could adjunct if you were lucky? But even then it would take teaching twenty-five courses to made up the difference, and even that assumes one's time is literally worthless.
     
  10. heirophant

    heirophant Well-Known Member

    The statistics that Nosborne referred to are here

    http://www.calbar.ca.gov/Admissions/Law-School-Regulation/Exam-Statistics

    For the July 2019 exam...

    http://www.calbar.ca.gov/Portals/0/documents/July2019-CBX-Statistics.pdf?

    4,938 in total took the exam. 3,157 passed, for 63.9%

    Of these

    CA ABA 3,073 took, 2,194 passed 71.3%
    Out of state ABA 826 took, 603 passed 73.0%
    CalBar accredited 233 took, 61 passed 26.2%
    Cal Unaccredited 65 took 16 passed 24.6%

    So despite all the talk they get on this board (all the DL schools are unaccredited) the CalBar accredited and non-accredited schools are a tiny fraction of the total July 2019 attorney production, only about 2.5% of the total combined.

    The rest were things like out of state attorneys taking the attorney's exam, foreign law school graduates etc.

    US educated out-of-state attorneys passed at 73.3%
    Foreign educated individuals only passed at 19.8%
    Foreign attorneys only hit 20.0%
     
    Last edited: Oct 5, 2020
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  11. SteveFoerster

    SteveFoerster Resident Gadfly Staff Member

    It's interesting what little difference CalBar accreditation seems to make here.
     
  12. heirophant

    heirophant Well-Known Member

    Yes, I was thinking that too.
     
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  13. nosborne48

    nosborne48 Well-Known Member

    Well, CalBar accredited vs unaccredited stats can't be exactly compared because the unaccredited students often wash out of the process after their first year due to failing the Baby Bar. Most students at CalBar accredited schools are exempt from the Baby Bar.
     
  14. nosborne48

    nosborne48 Well-Known Member

    I'm frankly surprised that the ABA graduates passed at such a high rate. 50% has not been uncommon in past years.
     
  15. nosborne48

    nosborne48 Well-Known Member

    Speaking of what a CalBar accredited in residence full time (three year) J.D. program "should" cost, last time I checked, Thomas Jefferson, U of LaVerne, and San Joaquin all got around $80,000. There's a CalBar school in Chico that got something less than $55,000 at the time. These schools are "real" in the sense that they are resident with significant facilities and stable faculty for teaching law students. Does that make them better than, say, Taft (where I got my LL.M.)? I suppose that's up to the individual to decide. I'm far from convinced that lawyers should be trained in Universities at all.
     

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