Unemployed Law School Student Pens Letter to Dean Asking for His Tuition Money Back

Boston College Law School student can't get a job and wants his money back.

ByABC News
October 21, 2010, 12:50 PM

Oct. 21, 2010 — -- A Boston College law student unhappy with his job prospects has made the prestigious university an offer: return his money and he'll forfeit his degree.

The proposition was made in an open letter written by the student anonymously, identified only as a third-year law school student, and posted last week on the law school's independent student-run website, Eagleionline.

The letter, addressed to the school's Interim Dean George Brown, explains how the student is unable to support his wife and the baby they're expecting and is in "an enormous amount of debt" from his time at Boston College.

"With fatherhood impending, I go to bed every night terrified of the thought of trying to provide for my child AND paying off my J.D, and resentful at the thought that I was convinced to go to law school by empty promises of a fulfilling and remunerative career," the student, who says he's set to graduate in 2011, writes.

In the letter the student criticizes the university's career services department saying that he and his peers have received "little help" to cope with their "financial disasters."

One year at Boston College Law School, including tuition and housing, costs about $60,000, according to the school's website.

"I'd like to propose a solution to this problem: I am willing to leave law school, without a degree, at the end of this semester," writes the student. "In return, I would like a full refund of the tuition I've paid over the last two and a half years."

Repeated requests by ABC News to interview the student were declined. Brown was also not made available for an interview, but a spokesman for the law school issued a written statement.

"As a Jesuit law school, we are deeply concerned about the job prospects and general well-being of our students and our recent graduates," said Nate Kenyon, the director of communications at Boston College. "The job market in the legal profession and beyond has been severely affected by the current economic downturn, which has resulted in one of the most difficult employment climates in the past 70 years, not only for BC Law, but for all schools across the nation."