The Sandra Day O’Connor College of Law, once known as the ASU law school, has a plan to help its students. And the plan is bold.
It will increase the value of an ASU degree, while decreasing the financial burden on its students. It will maintain the school’s affordability, while elevating its profile.
It will propel the school, which just last year sat firmly in the “2nd tier” of law schools, high into the top 30. And it will anchor the school in a sustainable financial foundation, while moving it closer to the vibrant Phoenix legal market.
So what is this plan, this bold and brilliant plan? The school will give up $7.5 million in annual state funding, and fill the hole by dramatically raising tuition.
No really — that’s the plan, in all its simple, brutal glory. ASU will drive the law school forward by yoking its poor students and whipping them into the ground.
Paul Schiff Berman, dean of the College of Law, says the move will benefit students in the long run, by freeing them from the harsh vagaries of state funding.
So it will be way more expensive, but predictable.
Increasing a program’s financial stability by distancing it from ASU is like increasing its prestige by distancing it from Yale. And at this point, we should be taking whatever paltry millions we can get.
But no — the state gave us less money this year than last year, so next year we’ll take nothing. That’ll show ‘em.
And the school is moving downtown, away from its architecturally stunning law library, into some new facility (which will probably be equally stunning). This will bring students closer to all those law firms and government agencies that aren’t hiring. And this will all be pretty cheap … right?
Who cares? With a private funding model, the school can spend as much money as it wants. Law students aren’t actually forking out the cash – they all have federally subsidized student loans. So what’s another yearly $10,000 between friends? And heck, why not increase enrollment too?
The let-everybody-in-and-milk-them-for-their-loan-money approach is tried and true. For-profit universities like the University of Phoenix have been doing it for years, swapping tens of thousands of easy loan dollars for worthless degrees in industries that aren’t hiring. So who cares if half our students can’t get law jobs? Call it “expanding the scope of legal education.”
And really, what’s the difference between making education “as nearly free as possible,” which the Arizona state constitution mandates, and “as much as these suckers will keep paying”? In the end, it’s all relative.
Plus, Berman assures us, scholarships will keep it all affordable. Scholarships that come, of course, from other students’ tuition. The truly desperate will pay outrageous sums, in a massive professional-school ponzi scheme.
Frankly, state-subsidized ASU law was getting pretty far from free already. Whatever other universities may charge, $21,598 a year in-state tuition is not “affordable to all.” And now, they’re aiming to charge $35,000 by 2017.
But what do I know? Berman loves this plan — it must be good.
John his a law student. Reach him at john.a.gaylord@asu.edu
