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At Public Law Schools, Tuition Jumps Sharply
Students may pay as much as 20 percent more at some state institutions
The National Law Journal
August 03, 2009
Image: Photodisc Green
Double-digit tuition increases loom for students at some of the country's top public law schools.
School administrators say that the unusually large tuition hikes for the coming academic year are spurred, for the most part, 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 by 19 percent for California residents and by 10 percent for nonresidents. "I fear, given the fees our law students are being charged, [that] 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 available statistics from the American Bar Association.
For example:
• In-state students at Indiana University Maurer School of Law -- Bloomington will pay almost 25 percent more in tuition than they paid last year, bringing their tuition from just below $20,000 to nearly $25,000.
• Iowa residents will see tuition increase by nearly 20 percent next year at the University of Iowa College of Law, while out-of-state students will pay an additional 13 percent.
• Tuition at the University of Colorado School of Law is increasing by 16 percent, 20 percent and 12 percent for in-state 1Ls, 2Ls and 3Ls, respectively.
• Resident students at the University of Texas School of Law will pay 16 percent more and nonresidents will see tuition go up by nearly 11 percent.
• Tuition is up 15 percent for in-state 1Ls at the University of Minnesota Law School, while in-state 2Ls, 3Ls and out-of state students will see increases of nearly 8 percent.
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. During the 2008-09 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.
PUBLIC AND PRIVATE FUNDS
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."
