More Bad News For Troubled Law School

If at first you don't succeed, try, try again.

Hoo boy, Florida Coastal School of Law just CANNOT catch a break.

Last month, the U.S. Department of Education terminated the school’s access to federal student financial aid (for the second time, the first time being in 2019) for what the school characterizes as a breach of policy that requires a signature from a school investor. (Florida Coastal says that was held up because of its efforts to convert to a nonprofit institution.) Additionally, the law school was directed to file a teach-out plan with the ABA’s Section of Legal Education and Admissions to the Bar. ABA Rule 29 requires this step if the Department of Education initiates an emergency action against a law school. However, that plan was rejected after review by the executive committee of the ABA’s Section of Legal Education and Admissions to the Bar.

Then Florida Coastal applied for reinstatement of federal student loans, only to be rejected, with the Department of Education using some choice language — seriously, “recklessly and irresponsibly” isn’t good for any institution of higher learning’s brand. Now, as reported by the ABA Journal, for the second time, the council and an executive committee of the ABA’s Section of Legal Education and Admissions to the Bar has rejected Florida Coastal’s teach-out plan.

While the first tech-out plan was rejected for lack of details, the second one was rejected for… lack of details. But this won’t stop the law school from trying again:

Florida Coastal will submit another teach-out plan to the ABA, according to a May 19 statement from Peter Goplerud, the law school’s president and dean. He also said the school plans to submit factual evidence to dispute the DOE’s decision.

“We continue to focus on our students, and I, along with senior members of the administrative team, am meeting throughout the next several days with each student individually to discuss their future,” Goplerud said in the statement.

Florida Coastal is also appealing the Department of Education’s decision to not reinstate federal loan money.


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headshotKathryn Rubino is a Senior Editor at Above the Law, and host of The Jabot podcast. AtL tipsters are the best, so please connect with her. Feel free to email her with any tips, questions, or comments and follow her on Twitter (@Kathryn1).

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