Today there’s good news and bad news coming out of Boalt Hall (aka Berkeley Law aka WGWAG School of Law).
Let’s start with the bad news. The bad news is that the Regents, who run the show for the University of California (UC) system, approved an increase in system-wide student fees for the coming year. It’s for a shade over $1,000 — $1,068, to be precise.
The good news: Berkeley Law, at the behest of Dean Christopher Edley Jr., is effectively reversing the fee hike for its students. Boalt Hall is issuing an immediate “scholarship” to each student, in the exact amount of the fee increase.
Let’s take a look at Dean Edley’s email — which explains the situation, and has a cute and clever closing — and explore what might be motivating the administration….
Dean Edley’s complete memo appears below. Here’s an excerpt:
[Last week], the Regents voted to increase system-wide fees for all students, including professional students, by $1,068 for the coming year. The Regents concluded, and I agree, that the budget deal struck in Sacramento left the UC system with no alternative….
This state’s retreat has been most acute at the professional schools. Bitter though this pill is for us to swallow, it does have one benefit: although we have less remaining state subsidy, we have more financial flexibility and more autonomy than do other academic units within the U.C. system.
I am choosing to exercise this autonomy in the coming year to effectively reverse this last minute fee increase for all three of our JD classes, including our new admits. Each J.D. student will receive an immediate, automatic scholarship in the amount of $1,068. This increase is just too much, and it came too late. I am optimistic that these added financial aid costs can be offset by increased alumni donations as the economy recovers, and by continuing efforts to hold down less-than-essential expenses.
Check out the last paragraph of Dean Edley’s email:
Obviously, I cannot make any guarantees about future tuition levels. So, while you cannot have any quasi-contractual reliance interest on the following proclamation, I will make it anyway: Berkeley Law will remain a financially-competitive, intellectually-luminous, professionally cutting-edge, culturally-superior, and all around fabulous law school community in the decades to come. Count on it.
This sounds to me like it’s worded to preempt invocation of a certain section in the Restatement (Second) of Contracts….
What might be motivating Dean Edley’s exercise of discretion? It could be a concern with public relations. As you may recall, last year Edley got a lot of flak for seeking more-generous retirement pay packages for himself and other highly paid administrators, even as the UC system was suffering financially.
Back then, Dean Edley was made to look like the bad guy (and even made the subject of a satirical website, Save Our Dean). This time around, Dean Edley can look like a hero, by undoing the Regents’ eleventh-hour fee increase.
Dean Edley might also want to keep the peace around the law school. Back in 2009, law students decided to “go on strike” to protest a fee increase. By reversing this latest fee hike, perhaps Dean Edley can keep those noisome Berkeley hippies from taking to the streets (or law school hallways).
Blogging law student James, over at Nuts & Boalts, expressed support for Dean Edley’s move: “Maybe this was an easy decision, but it was still the right one.”
A Berkeley law student who contacted us here at Above the Law also seems placated.
“It’s not a ton, but it’s something,” said this student of the $1,068 fee increase. “With Berkeley Law’s tuition being among the highest in the country, this news [of the scholarships] comes as a relief for many of my classmates and for me.”
Some of you are already going six figures into debt for law school. Does an extra grand — or the avoidance thereof — really mean that much to you?
“Look, we know we’re f**ked,” said the tipster. “We know we’re going to be in debt until we die.”
“But every time a law school administrator says ‘this far, but no further’ to tuition hikes, my heart sings a little.”
UC BERKELEY SCHOOL OF LAW — MEMORANDUM — FEE INCREASE AND SCHOLARSHIPS
Subject: A Message from Dean Edley
Date: Thu, 21 Jul 2011
Dear [Student],
I am sure that many of you have heard about the recent fee increase approved by the Regents last week. At their meeting on Thursday, the Regents voted to increase system-wide fees for all students, including professional students, by $1,068 for the coming year. The Regents concluded, and I agree, that the budget deal struck in Sacramento left the UC system with no alternative. The state’s retreat from higher education continues what has become a sad trend in recent years, not just here in California, but across the nation.
This state’s retreat has been most acute at the professional schools. Bitter though this pill is for us to swallow, it does have one benefit: although we have less remaining state subsidy, we have more financial flexibility and more autonomy than do other academic units within the U.C. system.
I am choosing to exercise this autonomy in the coming year to effectively reverse this last minute fee increase for all three of our JD classes, including our new admits. Each J.D. student will receive an immediate, automatic scholarship in the amount of $1,068. This increase is just too much, and it came too late. I am optimistic that these added financial aid costs can be offset by increased alumni donations as the economy recovers, and by continuing efforts to hold down less-than-essential expenses.
You may be wondering what, if anything, this portends for the future of fees here at UC broadly and at Berkeley Law School in particular. Unfortunately, it is likely that tuition at the University of California will continue to increase in the coming years. However, I am confident that total fees at Berkeley Law will not need to increase any faster than they do at other top-tier law schools in the years ahead. By our calculations—and murky disclosures make comparisons tricky—our tuition next year (net of the new automatic scholarship referenced above) will be comparable to those at the Universities of Michigan and Virginia and below those of many of our private competitors.
Obviously, I cannot make any guarantees about future tuition levels. So, while you cannot have any quasi-contractual reliance interest on the following proclamation, I will make it anyway: Berkeley Law will remain a financially-competitive, intellectually-luminous, professionally cutting-edge, culturally-superior, and all around fabulous law school community in the decades to come. Count on it.
Sincerely,
Christopher Edley, Jr.
William T. Orrick, Jr. Distinguished Chair and Dean
The Administration Gets it Right: Boalt Won’t See Further Fee Increases this Year [Nuts & Boalts]
Earlier: A New Name for Boalt Hall: WGWAG School of Law!
View the original article here
This post was made using the Auto Blogging Software from WebMagnates.org This line will not appear when posts are made after activating the software to full version.
