Consumer Information (ABA Required Disclosures)

Conditional scholarships are contingent upon a student’s academic performance as outlined in his or her scholarship letter. Recipients must adhere to the conditions upon the acceptance of his or her scholarship. Please refer to your award letter for the specific standards.

Please be advised the figures above represent the population of scholarship recipients unable to meet the standards after one year of law school. This chart does not include the number of recipients who regained scholarships in future semesters.

Academic Requirements

Curricular Offerings

Law Bulletin (2021-2022)

Distance Education Policy

Loyola University New Orleans College of Law

Preamble & Limitations:  As an ABA-accredited law school, the College of Law is subject to the ABA Standards for Approval of Law Schools. In accordance with ABA Standards, Loyola students may not earn more than one third of the credit hours required for the J.D. degree through distance education courses, and they may not earn more than ten credit hours through distance education courses during the first third of their education. At Loyola, 90 credit hours are required to earn the J.D. degree; thus, a student may not earn more than 30 credit hours through distance education courses.

Purpose:  This policy is designed to guide Loyola University New Orleans College of Law in the development, delivery, and granting of credit for distance education courses in accordance with American Bar Association Standards.

Definitions:

a) Distance Education Course. Per ABA definition 7, a “‘[d]istance education course’ means one in which students are separated from all faculty members for more than one-third of the instruction and the instruction involves the use of technology to support regular and substantive interaction between the students and all faculty members, either synchronously or asynchronously.“’ A course may be delivered asynchronously, synchronously, or as a hybrid or blended class as defined below.

b) Asynchronous course. An asynchronous course is one in which the instruction is delivered at one time and the students receive that instruction and work can be done at a different time. In asynchronous classes, students and teachers use email, discussion boards, blogs, wikis, videos, and other technologies, which allow them to communicate without having to be in the same virtual or physical space at the same time.

c) Synchronous online course. A synchronous online course is one that requires students and instructors to be online at the same time. Lectures, discussions, and class sessions occur at a specific time. All students must be online at that specific hour in order to participate. There is no time delay, allowing participants to respond in real time.

d) Hybrid course. Hybrid courses (also known as blended courses) include a combination of course delivery methods, which may involve face-to-face meetings in a classroom,  asynchronous class sessions, and/or synchronous online class sessions.  This Policy applies to those Hybrid courses that fit the definition of Distance Education Course set forth in part (a) above.      

Distance Education Course Requirements:

1.  Courses to be delivered as distance education courses must be approved by the Faculty Curriculum Committee and by the faculty, even if the traditionally taught course is already offered in the regular law school curriculum. Academic content, method of course delivery, methods of evaluating student performance, and methods of ensuring student interaction shall be reviewed as part of the course approval process. Faculty wishing to teach a distance education course must submit a Request for Approval to the Faculty Curriculum Committee.  Information about each course taught as a distance education course will be reported on the 310 form submitted by faculty each semester, confirming that the course is being taught as it was proposed and approved. 
2.  Syllabi for distance education courses must identify student learning outcomes, including appropriate methods of assessment and evaluation of student progress toward learning outcomes consistent with ABA Standard 302.
3.  Distance education courses must include interactive tools and course design elements that provide the opportunity for regular and substantive interaction between faculty and students and among students that equal or exceed the interaction found in a traditional classroom setting.
4.  Faculty must regularly monitor student effort, provide opportunities for communication, and provide regular and prompt feedback on student effort and performance. Faculty will respond in a timely fashion to student questions and concerns, and will state in the syllabus what their response time is likely to be (e.g., 24 hours). Faculty will alert students in advance if it appears that they will deviate materially from that response time and will alert students as soon as practicable if an emergency situation arose that prevented them from responding in a timely manner.
5.  Distance education courses must be designed to use the technological resources available at the University and the College of Law, supportable by the University and the College of Law, and reasonably available to students. Faculty training and assistance will be provided by the Loyola University Center for Teaching, Research, & Learning and IT Services.
6.  Each course must be hosted on a secure website and have a process for verifying the identity of students registered in the course, including a unique, secure login and password. Distance education courses offered through Canvas shall be presumed to meet this requirement.
7.  Each class must be set up to protect student privacy consistent with the Family Education Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA).
8.  Each required examination for a course that does not permit students to use outside materials must be proctored by assigned personnel or by using available technology. Take-home exams will be processed through the College of Law’s Office of Academic Affairs and Student Records to ensure verification of the student’s identity and to protect the student’s privacy.

Student Responsibilities:

1.  Students are expected to know how to manage basic computer issues and to have reliable technologies to fulfill course requirements. An up–to-date PC or Mac-based computer with access to high-speed internet is required.  The University “help desk” provides support to students.  The University library and the College of Law library have limited numbers of laptop computers and tablets that students may check out for specified intervals of time should a student experience temporary computer issues.  Additionally, these libraries have computers for student in-house use in each library.
2.  Students are expected to abide by all instructions and requirements regarding all facets of distance education courses, including class assignments, class attendance, assessments, and testing.
3.  Students are expected to abide by the limitations set by the ABA of no more than 30 credit hours earned through distance education courses out of the 90 credit hours required to graduate and no more than 10 credit hours earned through distance education courses during the first 30 earned credit hours.

Approved by Faculty, September 2022.

Residency Requirements And Course Loads

The curriculum for full-time J.D. students covers a period of six semesters of resident study. Full-time J.D. students will not be permitted to schedule more than 16 hours of law work in any semester without special permission from the Associate Dean for Academic Affairs of the College of Law. ABA Accreditation Standard 311(c) prohibits students from enrolling in more than 20 percent of the credits needed for graduation in one semester. For Loyola, that maximum is 18 hours. Full-time first-year J.D. students must schedule 15 hours in the first semester and 14 hours in the second semester. The normal time frame for completion of the juris doctor degree is three academic years. Students are forewarned that this is a minimum time frame and the program may not be completed by acceleration in two and one-half years.  Part-time J.D. students are not permitted to complete their degree in fewer than 4 years of part-time study; a part-time J.D. student may complete the degree in fewer than 4 years if the student transfers to the full-time program.

Part-time J.D. students may register for more than 12 hours only with the permission of the Petitions Committee or the Associate Dean for Academic Affairs. All first-year part-time J.D. students are required to schedule 12 hours in the first semester and 11 in the second semester. Lawyering III must be completed and scheduled during the second year. Anyone who begins in the part-time program must stay with that program through the first year.

Click here to review the College of Law's tuition policy for J.D. students. 

Credit Hours for Coursework

In accordance with ABA Standard 310, students are expected to attend and adequately prepare for classes and other activities for which they receive academic credit.  To that end, one credit hour shall reasonably approximate:

(1) at least one hour of classroom or direct faculty instruction and at least two hours of out-of-class student work per week for fifteen weeks, including the exam week, or the equivalent amount of work over a different amount of time, for at least 42.5 total hours; or

(2) at least an equivalent amount of work for other academic activities such as law review activities, moot court activities, independent studies, simulations, field placements, clinical work, and any other work leading to the awarding of credit hours.  For the work covered by this subsection, students must comply with the supervising faculty member’s rules for successfully completing the other academic activity, including rules governing keeping track of student’s time on the task, giving interim reports, meeting with the supervising faculty member, and providing drafts.

To ensure compliance with ABA Standard 310, the Associate Dean for Academic Affairs shall ensure that the policy is posted on the College of Law website in the section on Academics maintained by the Law Records office and in the Law Bulletin.  Moreover, all courses taught in the College of Law will be reviewed on a regular basis by the faculty teaching the courses and the Associate Dean for Academic Affairs to ensure that the amount of credit hours awarded is consistent with the amount of work required of students.  Faculty teaching courses will review their courses for coverage and student work every time they teach them to ensure that credit hours earned by students is commensurate with the work assigned to and completed by the students.  Faculty must complete a “310 form” for each of their courses and submit that form, along with a syllabus if applicable, to the Associate Dean for Academic Affairs by the second week of the semester. Faculty should survey students near the end of the semester to determine the amount of time spent on coursework during the semester to ensure the accuracy of information provided on the 310 form and update the form when necessary.

Additionally, the Associate Dean for Academic Affairs will review courses taught in the College of Law every five years as follows: Year 1, all general law required courses; Year 2, all civil law required and pool courses; Year 3, all common law required and pool courses; Year 4, all courses required or in the pool for certificates that have not been reviewed in Years 1-3; and Year 5, all courses identified as experiential courses, including law clinic courses and externship courses and all general law courses that have not yet been reviewed.  Newly proposed courses will be reviewed by the curriculum committee and the Associate Dean for Academic Affairs for the number of credit hours and how those hours will be awarded before course approval.  This schedule will be repeated every 5-year cycle, and courses may be reviewed more often when determined to be necessary by the Dean, the Associate Dean for Academic Affairs, or the Faculty Curriculum Committee.

Reviews will include a consideration of the following: the course syllabus and all 310 forms submitted regarding the course. Reviews of courses that involve substantial work to be completed outside of the classroom, including law clinic, externships, independent studies, advocacy competitions, and service on journal boards and advocacy boards, will include a review of the number of hours logged by students for this work, a consideration of the number of pages assigned or necessary to be read to complete the projects required for the course, a review of the types of projects and activities completed for the course, and consideration of the  number of pages of written work created by the student (when applicable).  Professors of these courses should require students to log hours in which they are involved in course work, either using an electronic system or in print, and professors must review students’ hours to ensure that students are involved in a minimum of 42.5 hours per credit hour over the course of the semester.

As an ABA-accredited law school, the College of Law is subject to the ABA Standards for Approval of Law Schools.

Under ABA Standard 510, any student at the College of Law may bring a formal complaint to the College of Law administration "of a significant problem that directly implicates the school's program of legal education and its compliance with the ABA Standards." This may include concerns about curriculum; academic standards and achievements; course of study; externships; distance education; and study abroad programs.

Students seeking to file a formal complaint related to the program of legal education and compliance with the ABA Standards shall do the following:

1. Submit the complaint in writing to the Associate Dean for Academic Affairs. The complaint may be made by email, U.S. mail, or personal delivery.
2. Describe in detail the behavior, program, process, or other matter that is the subject of the complaint, and explain how the matter implicates the law school's program of legal education and compliance with specific ABA Standard(s).
3. Provide the name, official College of Law email address, and street address of the complaining student, for further communication about the complaint.

When the Associate Dean receives a student complaint, the following procedures will be followed:

1. The Associate Dean will acknowledge receipt of the complaint within five business days. Acknowledgment may be made by email, U.S. mail, or personal delivery, at the option of the administrator.
2. Within twenty days of acknowledgment of the complaint, the Associate Dean, or his or her designee, shall either meet or correspond with the complaining student, providing a written response to the substance of the complaint or informing the student that additional investigation is needed. If further investigation is needed, the student shall be provided with information about what steps are being taken to investigate the complaint and an estimated date for the completion of the investigation by the College of Law. The written response to the complaint will specify what steps are being taken to address the complaint.
3. After the student receives the written response to the complaint, an appeal may be taken to the Dean of the College of Law within ten days. The appeal must be in writing and should identify the basis for questioning the original response. Any decision made on appeal by the Dean shall be final.
4. A copy of the complaint and a summary of the process and resolution of the complaint shall be kept in the Dean's office for a period of 10 years from the date of final resolution of the complaint.

Note: Should a student have a complaint about some other aspect of the College of Law, the student should consult the Academic Affairs page of the College of Law's website for information regarding where and how to file such complaints, which may include complaints regarding the Student Code of Conduct, the University's Discrimination and Harassment policy, Grade Appeals, and the Honor Code.

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