http://www.abajournal.com/news/article/affluent_students_get_law_school_merit_scholarships_while_others_foot_the_b
What a Deal!: On February 8, 2017, the ABA Journal featured an article from Stephanie Francis Ward, under the headline “Affluent students get law school merit scholarships while others foot the bill.” Check out this opening:
“Law schools have become more generous with merit scholarships, and the money has been flowing to privileged students whose parents are college-educated, according to a report released by the Law School Survey of Student Engagement.
Individuals whose parents had no college experience were the least likely to receive merit scholarships, according to the study, titled Law School Scholarship Policies: Engines of Inequity.
Basing merit determinations on LSAT results—90 percent of the respondents with merit awards had LSAT scores above 165—is an instigator, according to Frank H. Wu, a University of California Hastings College of Law professor who wrote the the survey’s foreword. Wu argues that LSAT scores can be a performance predictor but don’t necessarily demonstrate merit.
“Everyone is on the side of merit. There are no advocates for mediocrity. But so called merit scholarships are less about students’ merit than they are about our own sense of elitism,” he wrote.
A better way to reward merit, according to Wu, would be to base determinations on law school work. He blames law school rankings for schools’ heavy reliance on LSAT scores, and he describes the current merit scholarship trend as a “’reverse Robin Hood’ revenue model,” where “the poorest students are being forced to subsidize their wealthier peers.”
“Instead of identifying talented individuals who lack resources—the ‘strivers’ we claim to admire—we are reinforcing economic hierarchy. We are sending the message that those who already have so much deserve so much more,” Wu wrote.” [Emphasis mine]
Frank Wu has changed his tune. Back on April 22, 2009, he authored a foolish USN&WR piece entitled “Why Law School Is for Everyone.” Now, he is echoing Paul Campos, by referring to the “reverse Robin Hood” effect. Sadly, waterheads will continue to apply to, and enroll in, these toilets because they overestimate their own ability – while downplaying those of their counterparts.
http://www.nationallawjournal.com/home/id=1202778852592/Minority-Law-Students-Subsidize-Scholarships-Study-Finds?mcode=1202617074964&curindex=4
Other Coverage: On February 9, 2017, the National Law Journal published a Karen Sloan piece provocatively entitled “Minority Law Students Subsidize Scholarships, Study Finds.” Look at the portion below:
“The study found that 71 percent of the students surveyed received some form of scholarship. Of those, 79 percent were "merit based," while 21 percent were "need based." The distribution of merit-based scholarships was tied closely to the recipient's LSAT score — 90 percent of respondents with LSAT scores of 166 or higher got those scholarships, compared with 16 percent for those with scores of 140 or lower.
The distribution of merit-based scholarships also varied by race. Sixty-seven percent of white students and 61 percent of Asian students received merit-based scholarships, compared to 52 percent of Latino students and 49 percent of black students. The black and Latino students surveyed also reported lower LSAT scores overall than white and Asian respondents.
Similarly, students whose parents went to college were more likely to receive merit scholarships than first-generation students whose parents didn't have a high school diploma or didn't finish college. Hence, the students from lower socioeconomic backgrounds on the whole pay more to attend law school than their wealthier classmates.
Unsurprisingly, black and Latino students were bracing for higher student debt burdens. Among Latinos, 57 percent expected to have more than $100,000 in law school debt, as did 53 percent of black respondents. Meanwhile, just 38 percent of white students anticipated a debt load of $100,000 or more. That figure was 40 percent among Asian students.
Last year's Law School Survey of Student Engagement highlighted law student debt levels as well as stress. It concluded that high debt correlates to more stress, and minority students were on the high end of both measures.” [Emphasis mine]
If you earned a 150 on the LSAT, do you still want to take the plunge, Dumbass?! Do you wish to subsidize the studies of your fellow students, with higher entrance scores, who are on scholarship? Good luck competing against them for decent legal jobs. Plus, if their parents are elite college graduates – or have money – they will be in a position to make a few calls to influential friends. Can you or your family do the same, moron?!?! No, you can barely afford two-ply toilet paper to wipe your ass with, fool.
Yet, you still want to enroll in an ABA-accredited commode. Perhaps, your brain stem is not fully developed – and you wish to incur outrageous sums of NON-DISCHARGEABLE debt, so you can save the whales or help fight for “social justice.” This goes double if you are a racial minority!
Conclusion: If you are not RIDICULOUSLY CONNECTED or wealthy – and you attend a cesspool of a law school – then you better be an incredibly attractive female. Doors may open for those JDs. Otherwise, you are pissing away three years of your life, including prime income years. There is no sense in accumulating an additional $130K+ in student loans for a garbage law degree that will qualify you for a job making $38K per year, if you’re lucky. Have someone smarter than you do the math for you, Stupid!