It appears that the Law School may get a tuition increase of somewhere in the range of 40% over the next few years. Strangely enough, I'm ok with this.
It's a big change, but these funds will be given directly to the law school, which is the big benefit (otherwise, I'd be up in arms). The school really needs the money, considering our entire budget is about $4 million. And it's not that our tuition will be that expensive relative to other schools. We're already probably the least expensive school in the country. To give non-UWLaw people an idea, my (resident) tuition and fees this year is south of $6k. Yet I feel like we're getting a good education, though part of that comes from my firm conviction that it doesn't matter what school to which one goes, if one doesn't put in the work, one doesn't get the learnin'.
Some have criticized on the basis that the cheap tuition got people there, and now they're hiking it up. As in a bait and switch. Well, there are no guarantees when you start a law school that the tuition will remain the same all three years. Additionally, our cost of attendance will go up, so our financial aid cap will, as well. Granted, we'll still have to pay that off, but even a worst case scenario doesn't calculate that poorly. For example, a 1L non-resident will pay approximately $3845 more than they would have, taking into account a 5% base university increase, which would happen pretty much no matter what.
If we take this extra money and assume that it would come out of loans, over 10 years, that comes to a little over $32 per month. I realize there's an impact in interest payments, so let's round that up a bit to $40. So, to quote Sally Struthers, for less than a cup of coffee a day, you can afford to go to law school.
There was another criticism that I heard which I would like to address. When discussing possible uses for the additional revenue, the Dean mentioned that it may be possible to increase the student scholarship fund. Apparently, an additional $60,000 would increase the fund by 40%. One student objected to this idea on the grounds that it is essentially a redistribution of wealth. His tuition was taken to basically give to others so they could go to law school.
Here's my response to that: I have no way of knowing who in my class could barely afford to go there. It could be Travis. It could be our student bar association representatives. It could be a friend, and it could be someone I don't know very well. But, every one of those people enhances my experience and makes law school a more rich, diverse, and rewarding experience. So there's a tangible benefit that I'm receiving for my money that ends up in the scholarship fund. The school would be just plain worse without those people next to me.
