Legal Education

Florida Coastal’s proposed teach-out plan dinged by ABA's legal ed section because of lack of details

  •  
  •  
  •  
  • Print

Florida Coastal School of Law

The Florida Coastal School of Law. Photo from Wikimedia Commons.

A proposed teach-out plan from the Florida Coastal School of Law, which the ABA directed it to file in April, after the for-profit school lost access to federal student aid, has been rejected.

The proposed plan was reviewed by an executive committee of the ABA’s Section of Legal Education and Admissions to the Bar.

It “did not include several required items and did not provide sufficient detail as to other items,” according to the notice.

A revised plan will be considered by the section’s council when it meets in May.

Rule 29 of the ABA Standards and Rules of Procedure for Approval of Law Schools addresses teach-out plans, which are required if the U.S. Department of Education initiates an emergency action against a law school.

“We will respond to the council with the information and data requested. We are still waiting for a response to our request for reinstatement in the Title IV program,” Peter Goplerud, the law school’s president and dean, told the ABA Journal in an email.

On April 6, Goplerud told the ABA Journal that the school was resubmitting its DOE application for Title IV eligibility, and students had their loan money for the current term.

This is the second time in two years that the law school had complications with federal student loan money. In 2019, after it did not meet fiscal responsibility standards required by the DOE, the agency required Florida Coastal to submit a letter of credit before student loan money was released.

Give us feedback, share a story tip or update, or report an error.