Bond Rating Agencies now on the case

"Standard and Poor's Downgrades Albany Law School," by Scott Waldman (Times-Union.com)

Money Quote #1: "The report suggested that Albany Law is more vulnerable to the national trend of enrollment decline because it is not connected to a larger university. Law schools that are part of a larger university or university system were better able to absorb losses of the last few years."

Money Quote #2: "It's also worth noting that higher education enrollments could be on the edge of a bubble. Shifting demographics will drain the pool of potential students soon. The children of the baby boom generation helped swell college attendance, and the next generation of college students will be smaller. That likely means a day of reckoning is near for an industry focused on relentless expansion."

It looks like the ratings agencies are taking an interest in the law schools. Very interesting. The item about connection to a larger university also ties in with Cooley Law School's proposed merger with Western Michigan University.

"Louisiana College Selling Shreveport Building Bought for Proposed Law School," by Leigh Guidry (TheTownTalk.com)

Money Quote: "The Shreveport building Louisiana College purchased to be its law school in 2011 is now for sale."

Looks like less seats for lemmings.

"Obama Budget: Bad News for Investors, Taxpayers and Education Reform," by Hans Bader (OpenMarket.org)

Money Quote "High student debt poses a risk to the economy, notes the Federal Reserve. But the Obama budgetperpetuates perverse federal financial aid policies that encourage colleges to jack up tuition, driving up student loan debt that now exceeds $1 trillion. One such policy is income-based payment plans that do nothing to cut student loan payments of prudent borrowers, but encourage colleges to increase tuition. They do this by effectively capping the lifetime payments of imprudent borrowers who attended low-quality colleges with high tuitions, and writing offtheir loans at the end of 20 years (10 years if they go to work for the government), regardless of how much the colleges increase their tuition, or how few of their students get decent jobs. Taxpayers, many of whom “work in lower-paying jobs than their degreed compatriots,” will pick up the tab for the written-off loans. Even the liberal New America Foundation calls federal programs like Pay As You Earn a “huge giveaway to” undeserving and imprudent borrowers, as its Jason Delisle explained in an interview with Bloomberg Businessweek."

"Law Schools give Labor and Employment Short Shrift, Professor Says." by Carlyn Kolker (Thomson Reuters)

Anyone want to guess the professor?