Open letter on tuition receives over 350 signatures of support
A school year is incomplete without another round of discussion on the law school’s rising tuition costs. The Students’ Law Society (SLS) unveiled an open letter on March 8 to Dean Jutta Brunnée seeking a dialogue on the inaccessibility of legal education. The letter received over 350 signatures from the law school’s students, faculty members, student groups, and alumni.
According to Willem Crispin-Frei (2L), Vice-President of the Student Affairs and Governance Committee (StAG), who drafted the letter, Dean Brunnée has expressed her willingness to renew dialogue on the issue.
Domestic tuition has increased over twelve-fold since 1996, a stark contrast to 58 percent in inflation over the same period. The 18-page letter detailed the impact of such rising tuition on students: would-be students turn down offers from U of T Law or feel discouraged from applying in the first place. And those who take the offer face financial pressures and are dissuaded from pursuing lower-paying public interest careers. The letter points out that their high debt load “[reduces] the emotional and intellectual bandwidth [they] can give to their studies and early practice.”
Concerns about equity are evident throughout the letter. The SLS acknowledges the law school’s programming for potential applicants from marginalized backgrounds, such as See Yourself Here and Law in Action Within Schools. But the impacts of such outreach efforts are limited without lowering financial barriers.
The letter does not demand drastic redress. Two out of the four requests outlined concern advocating on behalf of students to the University of Toronto’s Governing Council and to the provincial government. Recognizing that the law school does not control its operating budget, SLS hopes Simcoe Hall could commit to a tuition freeze or an increase that matches inflation.
Although packed with research, the letter does not propose a solution; it is focused on opening a dialogue. The third request seeks to establish an Advisory Committee to investigate potential solutions. Finally, the letter asks for more information to be collected to facilitate the search for solutions. This last request requires the public release of socioeconomic data of students and faculties, as well as salaries and debt levels upon graduation.
Concerns and advocacy regarding tuition are deeply rooted in the Faculty’s history. In March 2002, the Black Law Students’ Association together with other law schools in the province filed a complaint with the Ontario Human Rights Commission on the disproportionate impact of rising tuition fees on racialized minorities.
The graduating class of 2014 protested the conferral of an honorary degree to the former Dean Ron Daniel by wearing yellow buttons. Dean Daniels was thought to have initiated the upward trend in tuition costs during his tenure.
As recently as August 2020, five equity-facing groups at the law school raised similar concerns in an open letter to former Dean Edward Iacobucci. It highlighted the lack of information on financial aid for racialized students. Ultra Vires has also published over 40 articles since 2012 that feature tuition as a major topic.
Almost every year in the last decade, after the Dean delivers the annual budget report at the Faculty Council, the SLS President gives a speech calling for action to reduce students’ financial burden. What is different about this year’s tuition advocacy is that all eight SLS Presidents since the 2013-2014 academic year worked together on the letter.
Crispin-Frei, also the upcoming SLS President for the 2021-2022 term, described their letter as taking a “multifaceted approach.” It provides a detailed account of students’ advocacy efforts throughout the years, as well as historical developments in financial aid programming and government funding. The goal, according to Crispin-Frei, is to “[boost] the letter’s weight and legitimacy” and to show that “today’s high tuition is not natural or inevitable but rather the result of distinct decisions made by past Deans.”
The good news is that the Business Board of the University’s Governing Council has recommended a tuition freeze for all domestic students next year subject to approval by the Governing Council. The SLS remains hopeful that Dean Brunnée will continue to engage with students and seek meaningful solutions. The first step, as the 2018 “Barriers to Excellence” campaign pointed out, is to “build a more trusting and collaborative relationship on this issue.”
