The University of California, Irvine School of Law will provide scholarships of at least one-third of tuition to each member of its next class of students, which school officials said will help it to continue it to attract high-caliber students.
The scholarships will cover all three years of law school for the Class of 2014. They are funded by private donations, which includes a gift from Mark P. Robinson Jr., chair of the Dean’s Advisory Council and senior partner at Robinson, Calcagnie & Robinson Inc. in Newport Beach, Calif.
“Because of the generosity of Mark Robinson and others, UCI Law will continue to provide generous scholarships to help us attract top-quality students,” said Dean Erwin Chemerinsky. “These scholarships will also help reduce the debt burdens of our students by the time they are ready to pursue careers in law and public service.”
UCI Law, the first new public law school in California in more than 40 years, aims to enroll about 100 students in its next class, which will be the third since the school opened in August 2009. Tuition at UC law schools in the fall of 2011 is expected to be about $40,000 for in-state students and $50,000 for those out of state.
The first two classes of UCI Law students also received scholarship support from private donations: The first received full-tuition scholarships, the second, half-tuition. Those classes had median grades and LSAT scores on par with classes at top 20 law schools, UC Irvine said in a press release.
The first two classes numbered 60 and 83 students. The school will increase the size of its classes gradually until they reach about 200 students.
Other types of financial aid, including guaranteed federal loans and loan forgiveness programs, will also be available to help cover tuition costs and other expenses.