A private Jacksonville law school’s future remained in doubt this month when a federal district judge rejected its request to restore the college’s participation in the federal student loan program.
Judge Marcia Howard of the Middle District of Florida ruled Aug. 9 that the federal Department of Education acted within the law when it rejected Florida Coastal School of Law’s (FCSL’s) participation in the Title IV program of the Higher Education Act of 1965.
“On this record the court cannot find that the department’s decisions were arbitrary and capricious, contrary to law, or otherwise in violation of the applicable statutes or the Constitution,” Howard’s opinion states.
A key part of the opinion rejecting FCSL’s request for injunctive relief involved a review of the college’s financial standing and ability to operate in the future. FCSL has been owned by InfiLaw Holdings LLC, which is mostly owned by a private equity firm called Sterling Capital Partners LP. But in recent months, Sterling ended its ownership of InfiLaw, according to the opinion.
“Were the court to order the department to restore or reinstate FCSL’s eligibility, it would be requiring the department to operate under or enter into a (program participation agreement), and potentially issue millions of dollars in student loans, with an entity whose owners are unknown,” Howard said in her opinion.
Peter Goplerud, the FCSL’s president and dean, expressed disappointment with the ruling in a statement emailed to the Florida Record. The court wrongly found that the college was not offering adequate services to students based on a routine review by the American Bar Association, Goplerud said.
“The ABA did not say that Coastal was not providing services,” he said. “Rather, it found that certain aspects of the school’s programs and services required improvement, which is a normal part of the accreditation process.”
The college was on track to enroll a large, well-qualified class in the fall of 2021 when the Department of Education terminated the school’s participation in the loan program, according to Goplerud.
The federal judge’s ruling also endangers Coastal’s current efforts to find a party that will acquire the college, he said. One of these parties is the 100-year-old nonprofit Campbellsville University, according to the opinion.
“These opportunities are substantially jeopardized by the court’s refusal to restore Coastal’s access to student assistance funds,” Goplerud said. “While consummation of these transactions would have likely resolved the department’s concerns about the school’s financial condition, the court did not meaningfully consider these options.”