Legal matters:
A forprofit-college licensing agency votes to require Arizona Summit Law School to post a $1.5 million surety bond to guarantee students will be repaid if the school fails. Arizona Summit officials argue the bond is not necessary and would send a negative message to prospective students.
A private law school in Phoenix recently put on probation by the American Bar Association is being required to put money aside to reimburse students if the school were to close.
The Arizona State Board for Private Postsecondary Education, the for-profit-college licensing agency, voted Thursday to require Arizona Summit Law School to post a $1.5 million surety bond to guarantee students would be repaid should the school fail.
“It’s just to protect the public, just in case,” said Keith Blanchard, the board’s deputy directory.
Arizona Summit officials said the school has no plans to close and is preparing for its incoming fall classes.
The board requested the bond because the school was recently put on probation for low passage rates on the State Bar exam. The institution’s sister school under the same ownership, the Charlotte School of Law, is also on probation by the Bar. The U.S. Department of Education announced in December it was pulling Charlotte’s federal student-loan funding.
Arizona Summit officials argued before the board that the bond wasn’t necessary and would send a negative message to prospective students.
But board members said the bond acts as insurance and provides consumer protections for students.
The state has a Student Tuition Recovery Fund, but that fund would be tapped out if Arizona Summit were to close, board officials said.
Some schools, such as non-ac-
credited colleges, are automatically required to post a surety bond when they are licensed in Arizona, but Arizona Summit does not fall into that category.
Board members said they have seen schools shut their doors suddenly.
“I really feel a bond is required,” Trish Leonard, the board’s president, said at Thursday’s meeting.
A handful of for-profit schools in Arizona have shut down in recent years, including ITT Technical Institute, Anthem College and Everest College. In Anthem’s case, the school closed abruptly, stranding students after the parent company filed for bankruptcy.
Blanchard said the board, which licenses for-profit colleges, universities and vocational schools in Arizona, began monitoring Arizona Summit last year after its passage rates on the State Bar exam fell over a couple of testing cycles.
In addition to the law school’s low passage rates, the American Bar Association put it on probation in March for being out of compliance on admission practices, academic standards and student support.
Bar officials directed the school to develop an improvement plan and will review the school’s admissions data and the overall rigor of the program.
Earlier this month, Arizona Summit saw its first-time passage rate improve on the latest round of the State Bar exam, but it is still struggling to get above 30 percent.
The 300-student school once had passage rates as high as 97 percent.
School officials said recently that they have made several changes aimed at improving State Bar exam passage, including shrinking the student body and ending a controversial program that allowed some students with lower Law School Admission Test results to gain admission.
Arizona Summit officials said that, ultimately, 78 percent of the school’s students pass the Bar, although many need to take it more than once.
First-time passage rates, though, are what the legal community watches and are used as a measure of quality when prospective students evaluate schools.
Arizona Summit officials told the board that they are confident that the school’s first-time Bar passage rate will continue to improve.
Earlier this month, Arizona Summit saw its first-time passage rate improve on the latest round of the State Bar exam, but it is still struggling to get above 30 percent.