3L Transfer / Visiting Student Economic Benefits Forum

[Anonymous User]

Currently I am a rising 2L and I had a question about a 3L transfer / visiting student. The tuition bill for my next year of law school recently came out. The tuition for the next year will be 46K (I attend a tier 2 school and have a very small scholarship). Last year was about the same so I'm already in 92K worth of law school debt. I was wonder if it would be a smart decision to transfer to my state law school (3rd tier) after my 2L in order to save money considering my state school only cost 14K for the entire year and it's about the same distance from my current school. From my understanding I would still be able to get a degree from my current and arguably better school, and I would save a considerable amount of money in the process. Are there any drawbacks to this idea I should be aware of?

[NoDayButToday]

Currently I am a rising 2L and I had a question about a 3L transfer / visiting student. The tuition bill for my next year of law school recently came out. The tuition for the next year will be 46K (I attend a tier 2 school and have a very small scholarship). Last year was about the same so I'm already in 92K worth of law school debt. I was wonder if it would be a smart decision to transfer to my state law school (3rd tier) after my 2L in order to save money considering my state school only cost 14K for the entire year and it's about the same distance from my current school. From my understanding I would still be able to get a degree from my current and arguably better school, and I would save a considerable amount of money in the process. Are there any drawbacks to this idea I should be aware of?

You will only get a degree from your current law school if you are a visiting student--transferring (usually available for 2Ls only) means you actually become a student at the new school and are no longer a degree candidate at the previous institution.

This could make sense from a financial standpoint, as you've described. I would think networking/relationships with classmates and profs are the big things on the line w/r/t your old law school. You would need to make sure this wouldn't interfere with your commitments to a journal and the like at your old school. You also want to make sure that visiting away wouldn't interfere with your ability to use your home institution's career services offices and interview opportunities--generally not a problem, but worth confirming if you're still job-hunting.

Potential drawbacks w/r/t to the new law school: if you still have requirements to satisfy, your old law school might not give you credit for the coursework at the new school so you need to confirm this in advance. I had a friend study away at NYU last year, for example, where we have a 5 credit con law requirement. Our con law classes combine the 14th Am and structural con law stuff into one course. At her law school, there was a 7 credit con law requirement and it had to be satisfied with a 3 credit structural con law class and a 4 credit 14th Am class. She had completed the 3 credit course. Her home institution reviewed all of the syllabi from NYU fall con law courses and rejected all of them because they weren't comprehensive enough in their judgment to match the 14th Am requirements they imposed on their own courses. They finally relented on a spring prof's course which was heavier on rights stuff, but that decision wasn't made until she had to confirm whether she'd be staying at NYU or returning. So if you have any quirky requirements like that which you still haven't satisfied, you need to confirm that you can satisfy them. Ditto to any courses that are offered at the state school, but not at your current school (e.g., if the state school offers maritime law but your home school does not, you need to check that your home school would accepted it before signing up).

Finally, when you're a visiting student, you often are not fully a student at that institution and are not necessarily entitled to use that school's resources, including but not limited to career services, library check-outs, clinics spots, journal participation, extracurricular participation, housing, and so on. You might pick classes after everyone or only be able to pick classes during the add/drop period. So research in advance to make sure you'll be able to get out of your third year what you'd be getting out of your current school.

[Anonymous User]

Thank you so much for responding and listed out a lot of the things I need to keep in mind. I'll have to make a decision at the end of my 2L to see if it is worth it.