Harvard Law Tuition Refund a Joke

The Harvard Law Record ran an April Fool’s article promising a full refund to those law graduates who didn’t receive job offers. Although it was a joke, I think the article made a valid argument for tuition refund:

“Its really only fair,” said Mark Weber, HLS’ Assistant Dean for Career Services. “When HLS makes each student an offer to enroll in the J.D. program, that offer carries the implied promise of a $160K starting salary at a prestigious law firm immediately following a lavish post-bar exam trip. HLS is under a contractual obligation to refund the tuition of students who find themselves in the unprecedented ‘no-offer’ situation.”

Law schools promise to train students to become a lawyers in exchange for exorbitant tuition and if their graduates are not employed as attorneys, the schools have not fulfilled their end of the bargain.

Most law schools use false employment statistics to lure in students, and they should be held accountable and be required to refund tuition to any law graduate who does not have a job in the legal profession one year after graduation. Unemployed law graduates should get a refund, and not just on April 1.