Tuition Jumps 15% or More at Some Public Law Schools
Faced with declining state funding and shrinking endowments, many public law schools are increasing their tuition.
Budget cuts hit hard this year as states struggled to balance their budgets, the National Law Journal reports. Some schools are trying to reduce the disparity in tuition for in-state and out-of-state residents by giving bigger increases to in-state students.
The article says these schools are reporting increases:
• Indiana University’s Maurer School of Law, raising tuition 24.5 percent for in-state students, bringing the annual total to nearly $25,000.
• The University of Iowa College of Law, raising tuition 20 percent for in-state residents and 13 percent for out-of-state students.
• The University of Colorado School of Law, raising in-state tuition by 16 percent for first-year students, 20 percent for 2Ls and 12 percent for 3Ls.
• The University of Texas School of Law, raising tuition 16 percent for in-state students and 11 percent for out-of-state students.
• The University of Minnesota Law School, raising tuition by 15 percent for in-state first-year students and almost 8 percent for out-of-state students as well as in-state 2Ls and 3Ls.
Figures on overall tuition increases aren’t available yet. For the 2008-09 school year, the average increase in public school tuition was 9 percent for in-state students and 7 percent for out-of-state students, according to the story. The average annual tuition for in-state public law school students was $16,836.
