Brooklyn Law School to give students money back if they can’t find a job

Brooklyn Law School recently announced a new program in which recent grads will be able to receive some of their tuition back if they can’t find a job after graduation. The school believes they are the first law school to offer such a program.

The program, inspirationally named “Bridge to Success” will take effect starting with the incoming class of 2015.

Students eligible for the program, will receive a lump sum of 15 percent of their total tuition back if they can’t find “meaningful full-time employment.” Students, however, must work with the law school’s career counselors and have sat for the bar exam to be eligible.

“It’s a really great program. I think it’s a really good example of how the school really invests in their students and also believes in their program,” first year law student at Brooklyn Law School, Karla Cabral told Metro. “I guess it’s like aninsurance policy in the event that something bad happens.”

Brooklyn Law School, which boasts its 90 percent job placement rate for grads over the past two years, sells the program the same way:“as a safety net if the process takes longer than anticipated.”

“Longer than anticipated” is officially 9 months according to the Bridge to Success Program.

The Bridge to Success’ vague emphasis on “meaningful full-time employment” is according to Nick Allard, president and dean of Brooklyn Law School, a very personalized aspect of the progam.

“The reason why we’re vague is– we’re not limiting [students.] If they want to be the CEO of a business or they want to be a talent agent. Those are not jobs that are JD required but are certainly jobs where a JD comes in handy” Allard explained to Metro. “Our students are our paying customers, and we want to do everything we can to make sure that when they graduate that they feel that their education was worthwhile and valuable to them and this is part of that. It’s customer service.”

Allard explained that Bridge to Success is a bundled program which includes recuced tuition, increased need based scholarships, and subsidized housing for students. All of which are an effort to reverse of what he describes as a trend of “pricing legal education out of the hands of too many highly qualified people.”

“What we want to do is turn that around.”

Matt Lee is a Web producer for Metro New York. He writes about almost everything and anything. Talk to him (or yell at him) on Twitter so he doesn’t feel lonely@mattlee2669.