Just two weeks before the beginning of the fall semester, Charlotte School of Law is closing its doors.
The school has been through a series of problems, including an investigation by the North Carolina Attorney General about whether or not students received all the information they needed before deciding to attend the school and being placed on probation by the American Bar Association.
On August 15, North Carolina Attorney General Josh Stein issued a statement that he had notified the U.S. Department of Education that Charlotte Law, a for-profit institution, is no longer licensed to operate in the state. Additionally, the University of North Carolina formally rejected the school’s appeal to extend the operating license UNC revoked last week.
“Unfortunately, this appears to be the end for Charlotte School of Law,” said Lee Robertson, Jr., president of the school’s alumni association. “This is distressing news, especially for the students who were preparing to return to campus in two weeks.”
Robertson added, “For our alumni, this news is extremely frustrating. The value of our degrees—and our professional reputations—depend in large part on how our colleagues, and the public, perceive us. It is tremendously disappointing that our alumni will likely now have to explain that their law school is closed.”
According to the Charlotte Observer, Charlotte Law was cited for ongoing problems with curriculum, admissions, and test scores on the state bar exam (only 25 percent of Charlotte Law students passed the 2017 bar exam on their first attempt).
The Department of Education accused school leaders of hiding the extent of Charlotte Law’s problems from students and their families. Dozens of students have sued the school, alleging fraud and misrepresentation.
The school’s statements to students have been confusing and never directly mentioned its closing.
“The position that CSL has put many students and faculty members in is…disheartening,” said former student Ephraim Mosley. “This is definitely uncharted territory for a law school…so many students are left having to pick up the pieces from the fiasco that CSL has created.”
Attorney General Stein said he has written Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos, asking her to expand loan-forgiveness protections for former Charlotte Law students who qualify. They will need the federal government to forgive their student loans before they can continue their law education, and that process may take another year.
Meanwhile, students like Talece Hunter are scrambling to figure out what to do next.
She is planning to apply to another law school, but even if she gets accepted, many of her credits may not transfer. “It’s possible I could be sent back one to two semesters,” she said. “It’s unheard of for an institution of higher education to do something of this extent and walk away like nothing ever happened.”
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