UCSU: LSAT Prep Class

The cost of education is rising, and the economy is struggling. Paying for school is hard enough these days. UCSU student director of academic affairs, Matt Cucchiaro has created a new program to help education be a little bit more affordable.

Law Schools require potential students take the LSAT exam prior to acceptance. The logic based test is considered to be extremely challenging and most applicants take an expensive prep course, the average cost is $1,500. Through UCSU and the Clinton Global Initiative (CGI), Matt has created a class that up to 100 students will be able to take starting in February for only $50. Matt, with the help of the assistant dean of CU's prestigious Wolf Law School was able to secure a former employee of Kaplan and The Princeton Review to teach the course, Mike Higgins. The cost of $50 will get students eight weeks of classes, totaling 24 hours of prep courses that will be very competitive with the courses offered by the major companies. Higgins scored in the 99th percentile on the LSAT and offers a state-of-the-art experience.

UCSU's budget of $34 million dollars, the largest in the country, and sponsorship from the Clinton Global Initiative made this opportunity possible. Matt started the CU chapter of CGI for this exact program. CGI has four areas of emphasis: poverty, human rights, education and the environment. It is a global organization dedicated to bettering the world by making and sticking to commitments. Matt's commitment over the next two years is to graduate 250 students from the course and to provide them with $340,000 in LSAT prep.

CU Students Addison Herbert and Austin Storms are both interested in a career in law, but are worried about the rising costs associated with the LSAT. Storms a ROTC battalion commander and facility supervisor at the CU Student Recreation Center says the GI bill plus his salary might not be enough.

Addison Herbert works two jobs so he can pay for school already. Addison says that the money he could save on the LSAT prep class would really help him out considering he's not even sure he wants to be a Lawyer.

With help from UCSU, CGI and students like Matt Cucchiaro students all over the world have a better chance to succeed.

The program is slated to begin in February of 2010.

For more information about UCSU, go to:
http://www-ucsu.colorado.edu/webber/index.cfm

For more information about the Clinton Global Initiative, go to:
http://www.clintonglobalinitiative.org/