Five law schools reached a $2.9 million settlement with the U.S. Department of Education (DOE) after making 92 ineligible loans to LL.M students. The schools are Albany Law School, Atlanta’s John Marshall Law School, Brooklyn Law School, New England Law–Boston, and New York Law School. All five are “stand-alone” law schools, meaning they are not affiliated with universities.

The DOE requires federal student loans only be distributed to students in programs recognized by the schools’ accreditation agencies. In the case of these law schools, that is the American Bar Association (ABA). However, the ABA only accredits JD programs and not LL.M. programs. As a result, these schools should not have been offering federal student loans to their LL.M. students.

We want to be unequivocally clear. We have nothing against stand-alone law schools per se. We recognize LL.M. students, in particular, generally have stronger ties to their home area than JD students. It’s certainly feasible a stand-alone school may be the only viable option for many LL.M. applicants.

What we want is for prospective applicants to consider this a valuable learning opportunity. So if you are considering a LL.M., you may want to make sure you carefully consider your financial aid options if you do choose a stand-alone law school.