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February 9, 2010 |
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| August 05, 2009 |
By: Karen Sloan |
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ouble-digit tuition increases loom for students at some of the country’s top public law schools.
School administrators say unusually large tuition hikes for the coming academic year are largely spurred by cuts in public funding — with endowment losses, initiatives to improve their schools and pressure to keep up with competing institutions also playing a part.
Even with the higher tuition costs next year, public schools will remain generally cheaper than their private counterparts. But the shrinking public-private tuition gap has led administrators and professors to worry about whether public institutions are fulfilling their mission of remaining affordable.
“We’re trying to maintain accessibility, but it’s getting harder and harder,” said Kevin R. Johnson, dean of the University of California, Davis School of Law, which will raise tuition 19 percent for California residents and 10 percent for nonresidents. “I fear, given the fees our law students are being charged, affordable public legal education is no longer in existence.”
The recession is having a “much more pervasive effect” on law school budgets than did past recessions, said Susan Westerberg Prager, executive director of the Association of American Law Schools. Specifically, it’s hitting hardest at law schools dependent on state appropriations or revenue from endowments.
Administrators planning substantial tuition increases note that they are putting some of that additional revenue toward financial aid. Even so, the tuition increases are bound to heighten the financial burdens of public law school students, who already graduate with an average of $71,436 in law school debt, according to the latest statistics from the American Bar Association.
It’s not yet clear how overall tuition increases this year compare to previous years. The ABA tracks tuition at U.S. law schools but has not yet collected data for the 2009-10 academic year. In the previous school year, the average public school tuition for resident students grew by 9 percent to $16,836. The increase was 7 percent for average out-of-state tuition at public schools and 6 percent at private law schools. Steadily rising law school tuition doesn’t seem to be dissuading would-be attorneys from applying to law school, however. Law school applications increased 4.3 percent for the 2009-10 academic year, according to the Law School Admissions Council.
Nearly all public law schools rely on a combination of tuition, public money and private donations or revenue from endowments. Public funding has been on the decline for decades at many public law schools, but state funding cuts were especially steep this year as legislators struggled to address deep budget deficits. Some law schools are looking to tuition to help fill those funding gaps.
“We face a cut in state funding, like many other schools, and a decline in the revenue that our endowment produces,” said Kenneth Davis, dean of the University of Wisconsin Law School. “Our tuition differential will account for some of that cut funding.”
The law school will receive approximately $600,000 less in state funding this year — about 5 percent of its operating budget — and will probably raise tuition by $1,200, he said.
CLASS SIZE
Despite the budget shortfall, the school did not consider boosting the size of the incoming class to generate more tuition revenue. As at many law schools that are part of a large state system, law school tuition money goes to the overall University of Wisconsin system, and the Board of Regents determines the amount that flows back to the law school. Only the differential — the amount of the annual increase — goes directly to the law school, Davis said.
Moreover, the tight legal job market is another strong argument against purposely increasing enrollment. Additional students will place a heavier burden on law school budgets, though administrators haven’t calculated that extra cost, said Bethany A. Pluymers, Wisconsin’s associate dean for administration. Because the law school doesn’t see a specific monetary return from the university on a per-student basis, the added costs must be absorbed in the already established budget. “It reduces the resources available per student,” she said.
Not surprisingly, laws schools in the University of California system are getting hit with deep cuts in funding from the cash-strapped state. Overall, the 10 universities in the system are getting $813 million less from the state this year.
Some public law schools hope to close the tuition disparity between in-state and out-of-state students, which is contributing to higher in-state tuition increases. In 2004, the University of Colorado School of Law adopted a goal of achieving tuition parity for in- and out-of-state students by 2017, director of operations and financial management Dennis Russell said. Most students achieve resident status in Colorado after their first year of law school anyway.
A FEW EXCEPTIONS
Not every top public law school is significantly raising tuition rates this year. The University of Michigan Law School and the University of Virginia School of Law are raising tuition for their students by 4 percent and 5 percent, respectively.
Unlike most other public law schools, Michigan and Virginia largely follow the private school funding model — with heavy reliance on tuition, endowments and donations. In fact, Virginia’s law school receives no public funding, said Stephen Parr, associate dean for management and finance. The school moved away from state funding in the early 2000s to get more autonomy and avoid the impact of state budget cuts. Similarly, only about 3 percent of Michigan’s law school budget comes from public funds, dean Evan Caminker said.
Karen Sloan reports for the National Law Journal, an Incisive Media affiliate of the Daily Business Review.
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