It doesn’t come as much of a surprise that the Governing Council voted to allow the increases in Law school tuition last Thursday, in the face of much legitimate criticism of the idea.
The main concern stems from reasonable fears that ever-increasing costs of legal education will severely limit fair access, which will in turn have a limiting effect on equitable access to legal counsel for the public.
It’s very difficult to see how these increases are justified when its clear that the university’s primary aim is to increase the profile of the Law school, boost the salaries of their favourite professors, and aim graduates at high-paying Bay street jobs instead of other, less glamorous but equally (if not more) important areas of the legal system.
It’s also difficult to understand this action considering how much money the university tosses around on other things; like various aesthetic renovations around campus (check out the new entrance taking shape at King’s College Circle) and scandalous losses on the stock market.
Believers in the hike have argued that steps will be taken to ensure equal access for students who may have trouble paying the $22,000 per year that Law tuition is expected to rise to in the next three years. But it’s just wishful thinking to imagine that rising tuition will have no effect on enrolment or on the educational climate.
Rising tuition has been a constant weight on the minds of students in every faculty and program for at least the past decade. Everybody understands the plight of the university in a time of scarce government spending. But if money is so hard to come by, everybody should be belt-tightening and waiting out the “storm” of harsh financial climes. Instead, the administration continues to expand its ambitions while dumping the financial burden on the backs of students. Why not erode a public institution, the lives of students, and the society that benefits from accessible education just for the sake of the university’s great reputation?
Why not? Because a high international profile may not be worth the reputation U of T will simultaneously earn at home as a conceited and stuffy institution with little real regard for the people it is truly supposed to serve.
