Are Conditional Scholarships Good for Law Students? (Michael Simkovic)

Many critics have attacked law schools for offering merit scholarships that can only be retained if students meet minimum GPA requirements.  Jeremy Telman has a fascinating new post analyzing these scholarships in light of common practices in higher education and the peer-reviewed social science literature.  It’s a powerful counterpoint to a previously unanswered critique of law school ethics.

Professor Telman notes that similar conditional scholarships are widely used by undergraduate institutions, and even some state government programs.  Undergraduates behave as if they understand how conditional scholarships work, which suggests that most law students, who are older, wiser, and more sophisticated, probably understand the terms of these agreements as well.

Moreover, minimum GPA requirements can motivate students to study harder, pay closer attention, and learn more.  This seems particularly likely in the context of the first year of law school where mandatory grading curves and required curriculums remove the opportunity to shop for “easy A’s”.  (Professor Telman does, however, express concern about inadequate performance feedback to law students until the final exams at the end of their first semester). 

Professor Telman notes that law schools may struggle to predict at the time of admission which students will be the most successful.  Conditional scholarships help institutions gather additional information about students’ abilities and work ethic and ensure that limited merit scholarship resources go to the students who are most deserving.  Students who are deemed undeserving and lose their scholarships retain the option of transferring to another institution for their remaining years of law school.

Professor Telman doesn't object to additional disclosure about the percent of students retaining their scholarships, but he doubts it would have made much of a difference in prospective law students' matriculation decisions.

It’s a powerful argument.  Are conditional scholarships yet another example of critics applying a double standard to paint law schools in the worst possible light?