New part-time law school program launched at Indiana Tech

Editor's note: This story has been corrected to include information on Valparaiso University Law School's day program. 

Indiana Tech Law School has started a part-time day program to allow students to obtain their J.D. in as many as seven years.

Described as a “flexible enrollment option,” the Tech Law Flex program is designed to enable adults to work full time while going to law school. Working students will study the first-year curriculum over two years then move into upper-level courses, according to the law school. Flex students will attend the daytime classes, taking up to 12 credit hours per semester.

While Indiana Tech officially announced the new program Jan 28, it launched a pilot version of the Flex program in the fall of 2014. The program currently has four students enrolled.

“With our new flexible enrollment program, the many advantages of our hands-on, skills-based curriculum are available to students who prefer to keep their jobs while attending school,” Assistant Dean for Law Admissions Jessica Lynn Glassbum said in a statement. “We see this option as ideal for a while range of potential students – those who have some flexibility in their working hours, or who work at night, are self-employed or have similar situations.”

Indiana Tech did not disclose tuition for the part-time law school option. The Fort Wayne school’s full-time annual tuition for law students is $29,500.

Part-time law school curriculums are not new. Similar flexible enrollment programs for day classes are being offered at other law schools around the country including CUNY School of Law, Seattle University School of Law, University of New Mexico School of Law, and the Sandra Day O’Connor College of Law at Arizona State University.

Valparaiso University Law School also has a part-time day program. Students enrolled take seven credit hours in the fall semester and nine credit hours in the spring semester in the first year and complete their law degrees in five years, according to the school’s website. The tuition for part-time students is $24,320, compared to the tuition of $38,740 for full-time students

Indiana University Robert H. McKinney School of Law offers the state’s only part-time evening program. Students at the Indianapolis law school must take 10 credit hours each semester of their first year plus a summer class. They also have up to seven years to complete their degree but, according to the school’s website, many finish in four years.