Law school fees up nearly 25 percent

Maurer School of Law officials say a $4,902.96 increase in tuition and fees isn’t as dramatic as it seems and will help improve the school’s rankings.

At the July tuition-setting meeting, the IU board of trustees approved a 24.5 percent tuition and fee increase for all law students, increasing costs from $19,988.04 to $24,891.12.

However, the University is giving each student $2,975 on top of his or her other merit scholarships, which means students pay an “effective rate” of $21,916.12, including fees. This results in only a 9.6 percent increase in tuition.

The increase in tuition will help pay for the school’s scholarship funding and career
services, which officials hope will promote growth in the school. Scholarship money available for students has doubled despite a difficult economy, said Associate Dean for Students and Alumni Affairs Leonard Fromm.

Michael and Janie Maurer gave $35 million toward scholarships last December.
The recent tuition increase was made to help the school thrive in a difficult economy and continue to expand as a high-performing law school, Fromm said.

He also said students generally support the administration’s decision based on his interactions with them.

But the school has to cut back spending in other areas.

A memo sent out to students by Maurer School of Law Dean Lauren Robel said the amount of federal funding received remained the same in the new

fiscal year, but the school is bracing for the rough economic climate by cutting internal expenses such as salary increases for deans, faculty and professional staff.

“I know that we stand united in our common goal to continue the forward momentum our school has seen in the past few years,” Robel said in the memo. “We are also united in our belief that a recession is not the time to cut critical aid to students as they approach the job market.”

Fromm said the law school beat its ranking goal this past year, shooting from the 36th- to the 23rd-ranked law school in the country and the 7th among public schools.
He said the school was able to do so by focusing on the credentials of entering classes and by improving career services and job placement rates.

“We’ve had a strategic plan for several years,” Fromm said. “By 2010, we wanted to be in the top 10 of public law schools in the country.”

Despite the tuition increase, the school’s costs are lower than those of many top law schools.

The school’s effective tuition without added fees is $21,025. According to numbers provided by the Maurer School of Law, the University of Minnesota charges law students $25,325, the University of Michigan charges $43,200 and Northwestern University charges $47,202, though it’s unclear if those include added fees.

“Comparatively, in terms of how we compete with other schools, we are in no way excessive,” Fromm said.

He added that other public law schools are also raising tuition by more than 10 percent, but they are not offering additional scholarships to offset the cost.

“That’s not to say 9 percent is a small increase, but one of the reasons is so we can get in line with our competitors and offer scholarships and career services,” Fromm
said.

Second-year law student Tim Flowers said he has questions about the specifics of the tuition increase and its accompanying scholarships, but he understands the University’s decision.

“Based on the information Dean Robel has conveyed, I completely understand it, and it makes sense,” Flowers said. He added that he is interested to see whether the increased tuition will lead to higher rankings and job placement rates as promised.

“I think our students understand that if they’re going to be in a top-25 law school, our pricing structure has to be comparable to our competitors’,” he said.