In Wake Of 67% Decline In Enrollment, Western Michigan-Cooley Law School Cuts Tuition 21%, Closes Auburn Hills Campus

National Jurist, Western Michigan — Cooley To Cut Tuition and Close One Campus:

Western Michigan University Cooley School of law is cutting tuition by 21% and closing its Auburn Hills campus, one of four it operates. The Lansing-based private law school — once the nation’s largest when it came to enrollment — has seen its student body shrink considerably since 2011.

It’s the second of the school’s campuses to close. It had shuttered its Ann Arbor campus in 2014. ...

Western Michigan currently charges $1,750 per credit hour. That will be reduced to $1,375 beginning in the fall of 2020. A student needs 90 credit hours to graduate.

According to Law School Transparency, a legal education watchdog organization, the non-discounted cost of going to Western Michigan totals $267,747. Nearly 60 percent of students pay full freight. ...

In 2010, the school had more than 3,900 students, unmatched in legal education. Then came the law school crisis. The Great Recession torpedoed the legal job market and prospective students became scarce. Today, the school enrolls 1,269 students.

Update: Law.com, Once the Nation's Largest Law School, Cooley Set to Close a Campus and Slash Tuition