JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — Florida Coastal School of Law is suing the federal government to reverse a decision ending its students’ access to financial aid, saying the college “will imminently close” without it.
“Its students will be forced to find alternatives to finish their legal training, its faculty and staff will immediately lose their jobs, and a valuable source of legal professionals in Northeast Florida will disappear” if the decision stands, the school’s lawsuit says.
The lawsuit, filed this week in Jacksonville’s federal court, argues the U.S. Department of Education acted against the for-profit school because of an “improper agenda against proprietary education.”
The suit asks a judge for an emergency injunction ordering the department to reinstate the school’s eligibility for student financial aid.
It argues the department acted “contrary to law” during a chain of events that led to Florida Coastal being declared ineligible for federal student aid programs and later refusing to reinstate the school. The federal Administrative Procedures Act prohibits agencies acting contrary to law, so the suit argues the school is entitled to have its eligibility reinstated.
ederal student aid accounted for about 80 percent of the school’s funding, the lawsuit says, and “all faculty will conclude their employment on July 31” if the court doesn’t act.
The school has 126 students and 15 faculty and staff members, a spokeswoman said Wednesday.
School found someone to take over, can't stay open long enough without help
Federal student aid accounted for about 80 percent of the school’s funding, the lawsuit says, and “all faculty will conclude their employment on July 31” if the court doesn’t act.
The school has 126 students and 15 faculty and staff members, a spokeswoman said Wednesday.
School found someone to take over, can't stay open long enough without help
That announcement said the law school hadn’t met standards for financial responsibility and said the department was delivering on President Joe Biden’s pledge to stop for-profit education programs from profiteering off students.
"Too often, we see for-profit schools that try to take advantage of students, misuse taxpayer dollars, and skirt the rules to participate in federal student aid programs,” Education Secretary Miguel Cardona said in remarks included in the release. “Today we want to be heard and understood by for-profit schools around the country: we will be vigilant in ensuring they meet their commitments to students, families, and taxpayers.”
The announcement quoted Richard Cordray, the department’s chief of federal student aid, as saying that “Florida Coastal School of Law operated recklessly and irresponsibly, putting its students at financial risk rather than providing the opportunities they were seeking.”
But the school argues facts show it hasn’t put students at risk or taken advantage of them, noting that six attorneys on the Jacksonville Bar Association’s 13-member board of governors are Florida Coastal graduates.
In an emailed release, the school said its students’ default rate on student loans is only 1.3 percent.
About 6,000 lawyers have graduated Florida Coastal since 1999.
A case docket said the lawsuit was assigned Thursday to U.S. District Judge Marcia Morales Howard.