University of Massachusetts officials announced Wednesday that the Southern New England School of Law has offered to donate itself to the university, a move that would provide Massachusetts with its first public law school.

UMass President Jack Wilson received a letter on Oct. 5 from SNESL Board of Trustees Chair Margaret Xifaras proposing to incorporate the school into the state public university system, according to an Oct. 14 press release.

UMass spokesman Robert Connolly said the university system president’s office will ask UMass-Dartmouth officials to examine the donation’s potential academic, fiscal and legal effects.

If the deal goes through, UMass would receive cash assets and the SNESL campus that currently houses 235 students, an offer valued at approximately $22.6 million.

‘ ‘From Southern New England’s perspective, it’s a better means of serving current and future students,’ Connolly said.

SNESL first offered to formally partner with UMass in 2004 after informally collaborating since 2000, but Connolly said though UMass appreciates the new offer, circumstances have changed.

UMass Dartmouth and SNESL already collaborate in their MBA/JD and MPP/JD joint degree programs, according to UMass Dartmouth’s web site.

Massachusetts is one of six states in the country without a public law school, according to The Boston Globe.

Boston University School of Law professor Jack Beermann said he does not see any reason why UMass shouldn’t have a law school, if it is economically feasible for the university system.

‘Law schools are a good addition for any university, as it brings an increase in knowledge,’ he said.

Any law school UMass takes on would not be considered competition for BU, he said.

‘It’s not going to be a highly ranked law school, at least not in the beginning,’ he said.

LAW professor Tracey Maclin said he doubts UMass would be able to finance a new law school on its own and the monetary burden would ultimately fall to the citizenry.

‘Why should the taxpayers fund another law school?’ he said.

Maclin said he thinks Massachusetts already has plenty of law schools.

‘Certainly no one is complaining about a lack of lawyers,’ he said.

First-year BU LAW student Hallie Marin said she thinks a public law school in Massachusetts is a good idea, but she would not have gone to the public law school in her native state of Missouri.

‘But if state school had the same job prospects, I would have gone there,’ she said.

BU LAW is ranked in the top 10 law schools in the country for career outlook, according to the Princeton Review Law School ranking.

Adam Romig, a LAW student in the Graduate Tax Program, said he attended a public law school before coming to BU. He said he thinks Massachusetts would benefit from a public law school if UMass kept it affordable.

SNESL charges $21,800 in tuition per year, according to the university’s web site.

‘ ‘It’s not really public prices,’ Romig said.

First-year BU law student Zalman Kass said ranking is very important to him. He cited the University of California public university system as having good law schools.

UC-Berkeley’s law school ranks sixth in the nation, tied with private University of Chicago, while BU LAW ranks 20th, along with private Emory University and public University of Minnesota-Twin Cities, according to the 2010 U.S. News and World Report graduate law school rankings.

‘If [LAW] was a public law school and ranked number 20, I would still go here,’ Kass said.