Center for Advanced Legal Studies
About
Center for Advanced Legal Studies (CALS) is an accredited paralegal college located in Houston, Texas. Founded in 1987, CALS specializes in paralegal education, offering programs including paralegal certificates, an Associate of Applied Science Degree, and a Bachelor of Arts in Law and Business. The institution is recognized as a leader in paralegal education, having regained American Bar Association approval in 2026 after previously being approved from 1998 to 2014.
Admissions & acceptance rate
First-time freshman admissions: how selective the college is, and how many admitted students choose to enroll.
Graduation rate & outcomes
Completion, retention, and the equity gap between Pell and non-Pell students.
Pell equity
Pell recipients graduate at a higher rate than non-Pell students here — unusual and worth investigating.
Program outcomes
Federal Program Performance Data: how each program's graduate earnings and debt measure up under Financial Value Transparency and Gainful Employment.
Of 7 Title IV programs, 1 pass the federal Gainful Employment test and 0 fail. 6 have graduate earnings too small to publish, so they carry no pass/fail verdict.
Pass / fail distribution
- Passing1 · 14.3%
- No Data6 · 85.7%
- Failing0 · 0.0%
Severity spectrum
Tiers band programs by how far graduate earnings sit above or below the benchmark, from Critical (below −15%) through Safe (above +25%). No data means earnings were privacy-suppressed.
Earnings premium gap
Graduate earnings versus the federal benchmark, worst gaps first.
Debt vs earnings
Median completer debt against median graduate earnings, highest burden first.
Accreditation status & history
Who accredits the institution, current standing, and any past actions.
Accrediting Commission of Career Schools and Colleges
Accrediting Council for Independent Colleges and Schools
Council on Occupational Education
Action history · 5
- Jul 2025Voluntary Withdrawal ReceivedCouncil on Occupational Education
- Dec 2024Renewal of AccreditationAccrediting Commission of Career Schools and Colleges
- Sep 2021Renewal of AccreditationCouncil on Occupational Education
- Oct 2017Loss of Accreditation or Preaccreditation: Voluntary WithdrawalAccrediting Council for Independent Colleges and Schools
- Feb 2014Renewal of AccreditationCouncil on Occupational Education
Tuition & cost
What families actually pay, broken down by family income.
Net price by family income
Negative values mean aid exceeds the published cost of attendance for that income band.
Federal aid volume & trends
Pell grants and federal Direct Loan volume disbursed to students, and how they've trended.
In AY 2024–25, 222 students received $1.4M in Pell grants, alongside $1.8M in federal Direct Loans.
Pell recipients · 5-year trend
Loan volume by type · AY 2024–25
Loan awards count each loan type a student holds, not unique borrowers; one student may carry several (e.g. subsidized and unsubsidized), so the per-type figures are the reliable detail.
Student loan default rate
The share of student borrowers who default on federal loans within three years, against the national benchmark.
Of 134 borrowers who entered repayment, 0 (0.0%) defaulted within three years — below the 2.3% national rate.
Default rate vs national, by cohort
* Cohorts 2020 and later read near 0% because the federal COVID-19 payment pause (CARES Act) suspended defaults nationwide. These years reflect a national policy, not institutional performance; the 2019 cohort is the last measured under normal repayment.
Academic programs at Paralegal
Top program areas ranked by completions.
Top program families by completions
Enrollment trends & demographics
Fall headcount, 12-month unduplicated enrollment, and student body composition.
Gender split
Race / ethnicity composition
Campus safety & crime statistics
Reported on-campus crimes over the last three years, including violence and hate crimes.
3-year trend
Criminal offenses by type
By location
- Public property1
VAWA offenses
Hate crimes by bias
No hate crimes reported.
Arrests vs disciplinary referrals
Residence-hall fires
Data quality: 4 reports were later determined unfounded across the reporting period and are excluded from the totals above.
Student-faculty ratio
Student-to-faculty ratio and instructional staff counts.
Paralegal vs Peer comparison
The peer institutions Paralegal selected for federal comparison reporting.
A larger shape on any axis means this institution outperforms its peers on that dimension. For acceptance rate and net price, lower raw values are inverted so "more selective" and "more affordable" appear larger.
| Carnegie | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
SubjectCenter for Advanced Legal Studies | 62% | 32.8% | 271 | $10,914 | Special Focus Two-Year: Other Fields |
Alaska Career College | — | — | 250 | $18,091 | Special Focus Two-Year: Other Fields |
Apex College of Veterinary Technology | — | — | 27 | $10,030 | Special Focus Two-Year: Other Fields |
Athena Career Academy | — | 78.0% | 516 | $25,171 | Special Focus Two-Year: Other Fields |
Carrington College-San Leandro Campus | — | 91.9% | 326 | $32,368 | Special Focus Two-Year: Other Fields |
Carrington College-Stockton | — | 67.6% | 436 | $30,387 | Special Focus Two-Year: Other Fields |
CBT Technology Institute-Cutler Bay | — | — | 326 | $17,375 | Special Focus Two-Year: Other Fields |
Central Coast College | — | 95.7% | 631 | $26,640 | Special Focus Two-Year: Other Fields |
College of Court Reporting Inc | — | — | 182 | $41,410 | Special Focus Two-Year: Other Fields |
Interactive College of Technology | — | — | 65 | $13,358 | Special Focus Two-Year: Other Fields |
Interactive College of Technology-Gainesville | — | — | 50 | $14,834 | Special Focus Two-Year: Other Fields |
Interactive College of Technology-Morrow | — | — | 117 | $14,970 | Special Focus Two-Year: Other Fields |
Long Island Business Institute | — | 73.2% | — | $11,166 | Special Focus Two-Year: Other Fields |
Miller-Motte College-Jacksonville | — | — | 195 | $22,465 | Special Focus Two-Year: Other Fields |
Miller-Motte College-Macon | — | — | 230 | $22,139 | Special Focus Two-Year: Other Fields |
Ohio Business College-Sandusky | — | — | 22 | $28,674 | Special Focus Two-Year: Other Fields |
Ohio Business College-Sheffield | — | — | 224 | $21,181 | Special Focus Two-Year: Other Fields |
Professional Golfers Career College | — | — | 70 | $31,397 | Special Focus Two-Year: Other Fields |
San Joaquin Valley College-Lancaster | — | — | 257 | $23,940 | Special Focus Two-Year: Other Fields |
South Coast College | — | — | 306 | $22,480 | Special Focus Two-Year: Other Fields |
Southern Careers Institute-Austin | — | — | 746 | $23,458 | Special Focus Two-Year: Other Fields |
| Peer group median | 62% | 75.6% | 240 | $22,465 |
Reports & documents (1)
Dashboards, factbooks, data dictionaries, and other reference material published by the IR office.
Frequently asked questions about Center for Advanced Legal Studies
Quick answers to the questions most often asked about Paralegal.
What is the acceptance rate at Center for Advanced Legal Studies?
What is the graduation rate at Center for Advanced Legal Studies?
How many students attend Center for Advanced Legal Studies?
What is the average net price at Center for Advanced Legal Studies?
What is the yield rate at Center for Advanced Legal Studies?
Where is Center for Advanced Legal Studies located?
Have a question this page can’t answer?
Ask Clema anything about Center for Advanced Legal Studies and its peers — plain language in, cited answers out, in minutes instead of days.
Free for teams up to 3 · No credit card