Dean Chris Guthrie has announced that Vanderbilt Law School’s tuition for 2010-11 will increase by the smallest percentage since 1966 – 2.7 percent.
“I am deeply concerned about the costs of legal education,” Dean Guthrie said. “At Vanderbilt, we are committed to doing what we can to keep the cost of education down and to help each student maximize her return on her investment in us. In keeping with these dual goals, I am pleased to announce the smallest percentage increase in Vanderbilt Law School’s tuition in nearly 45 years, and I’m especially pleased that we’ve been able to achieve this low tuition rate increase in an economic environment that has increased our students’ needs while reducing other sources of law school revenue.”
Keeping tuition increases low is only one of the tactics the law school is using to support students during law school and after they graduate. For example, Vanderbilt has directed most of its discretionary dollars to student scholarships, and Guthrie has also made scholarship support a principal fundraising goal. Currently, 70 percent of Vanderbilt Law students receive scholarship support, and the median scholarship award is $15,000 per year. As Guthrie points out, this means that the median scholarship recipient receives more than a one-third discount off tuition. “In round numbers,” Guthrie notes, “our median scholarship recipient pays for two years of law school and gets the third year for free.”
The law school has also doubled its support for summer public interest stipends. These stipends, which provide modest support to students for either half or all of the summer, enable students to pursue public interest internships in legal settings. In 2009, 28 students received half-summer stipends and 22 received full-summer stipends. In 2010, by contrast, 55 students received half-summer stipends and 27 received full-summer stipends. Through these stipends, Vanderbilt law students are working with public interest, government or public policy organizations in 17 states and Washington, D.C., and in 10 foreign nations.
In addition, the law school has invested heavily in career services by hiring an additional career advisor, bringing its Career Services staff to five career advisors. The staff includes Assistant Dean Elizabeth Workman, who heads the program, and six others. Vanderbilt has also retained a consultant to work with students who would like to pursue entrepreneurial careers in the non-profit and public interest sectors, and again funded the Vanderbilt Public Service Initiative, which provides modest stipends to graduates working in public interest legal settings for up to seven months.
“These initiatives cost a lot of money – several million dollars annually – but they are important for our students and young graduates,” Guthrie observed. “To the extent possible, we will continue to do what we can to direct discretionary dollars to our students.”
Founded in 1875, Vanderbilt University Law School trains excellent lawyers for careers throughout the nation and around the world. Located on the Vanderbilt University campus in Nashville, Tennessee, Vanderbilt Law School combines the advantages of a top-tier faculty; a stimulating university community; a small, carefully selected student body, and one of the nation’s most modern, state-of-the-art facilities.