By: Deborah Johnson Wood
Law schools across the country report flat enrollment numbers. But not the Grand Rapids campus of the Thomas M. Cooley Law School, which reports a 26 percent increase for its classes. Of the 465 students enrolled so far, some 75 percent are from out of state.
Students from Los Angeles, Chicago, San Francisco, New York and Philadelphia will relocate to Grand Rapids, some of them even working here as they attend school. In addition, foreign students from the Far East, Europe and Africa bring their cultural heritages to the city, adding to its diversity.
“It’s somewhat like a larger undergrad program where you really do meet students from backgrounds unlike your own,” says Nelson Miller, associate dean. “We’re an urban campus, so students from larger cities tend to find the housing and culture they’re used to and are more comfortable here. Places like Hopson Flats, where they concentrate med and law students by floor, are great places for the students to live.”
The school’s other two campuses show similar out-of-state numbers—Auburn Hills has 600 enrolled thus far with 50 percent from outside Michigan; Lansing has 935 enrollees with 87 percent non-residents. All told, enrollment across all three campuses is up 11 percent.
“There are unique qualities about the Grand Rapids campus,” Miller adds. “It’s really a special downtown—the streets are as busy after business hours as during business hours, it’s a healthy place to live, and students often ask if we have a good place to get Sushi here, and, of course, we do.”
Source: Nelson Miller, Thomas M. Cooley Law School; Nick Wasmiller, Seyferth Spaulding Tennyson, Inc.
Deborah Johnson Wood is the development news editor for Rapid Growth Media. She can be contacted at [email protected].
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