The annual budget presentation, tuition debates, and catching up on meeting minutes
Dean Jutta Brunnée kicked off the January 11, 2023, Faculty Council Meeting after it reached quorum. As the first order of business, the minutes of the October 26 and November 16, 2022 Faculty Council meetings were approved. At the previous meeting, a quorum was not reached.
Students’ Law Society (SLS) President Meaza Damte (3L) then gave remarks calling for a pause to tuition raises. Damte noted that tuition was paused this academic year for in-province students but was raised three percent for domestic non-Ontario resident students (colloquially, out-of-province students). Damte said she was concerned that raising U of T Law tuition would decrease both the number and quality of applicants. She said some “top applicants” already do not apply to U of T Law because they are unsure if they can afford it, even with financial aid, and raising tuition will aggravate this problem. Damte also expressed concern that the “product of U of T Law does not match the price” and she cannot definitively recommend U of T Law to prospective students because of the high tuition.
Damte made three main asks: (1) greater transparency around U of T Law’s budget; (2) greater transparency around financial aid; and (3) greater value from U of T Law for students. Damte said financial aid cannot be a solution to high tuition because students have to decide whether to attend U of T Law before knowing what their net tuition (tuition minus financial aid) will be. U of T Law does provide a JD Financial Aid Calculator, but it only provides an estimate, not a guarantee.
To provide greater value to students, Damte suggested that the Faculty provide a larger variety of courses, guarantee students receive personal feedback on all written work, and expand the Career Development Office’s support for public-interest careers. Damte said Career Development Counsellor Rachel Weiner has been a valuable resource for students pursuing public-interest careers, but more support is needed. Ultra Vires previously reported the diversity of courses has declined from 131 in 2013–14 to 76 in 2022–23.
The Graduate Law Students’ Association (GLSA) President, Jasween Singh Gujral (GPLLM), then gave remarks. Gurjal touted the creation of a central GLSA email and website to improve continuity. Gujral said he plans to reduce bank fees for the GLSA’s bank account, re-establish graduate law students’ eligibility for the Rotman@Law Certificate, and hold a networking event for graduate law students to connect with each other and law firms.
Gujral made three asks: (1) shorten the waitlist for the University’s graduate student housing; (2) offer students the opportunity to provide feedback on courses earlier in the semester; and (3) for grades to be provided to students earlier and more consistently. He said it was unfair that some students might have their grades to share with potential employers while others might not because they took different courses.
Lastly, Vice-President, Operations and Real Estate Partnerships & Vice-Provost, Academic Operations, Scott Mabury gave a presentation on the University’s budget, and Assistant, Vice-President, Planning & Budget, Jeff Lennon gave a presentation on U of T Law’s budget. Neither budget is under the Faculty Council’s jurisdiction and the presentation was purely informative. The Faculty Council has historically requested an annual budget presentation.
For 2022–23, the University’s $3.23 billion in revenue is expected to come from tuition and fees (68 percent), operating grants (20 percent) and other revenue (12 percent). Operating grants from the Government of Ontario have been frozen in nominal terms for years. Tuition from international students has increased from seven percent of revenue in 2006–07 to 43 percent in 2022–23, driven by an increase in the number of international students and their tuition. The provincial tuition-fee framework cut tuition by 10 percent in 2019–20 for all publicly funded programs and froze tuition for 2020–21 and 2022–23 for all in-province students. Mabury estimates that the tuition freeze caused $167 million in lost revenue for the University in 2022–23.
He said the University’s projected expenses for 2022–23 are faculty and staff compensation (58 percent), other expenses (14 percent), student aid (10 percent), occupancy costs (eight percent), capital and equipment (seven percent), and pension contingency (three percent).
For 2022–23, U of T Law’s $47 million in revenue is expected to come from tuition (50 percent), operating grants (11 percent), university transfers (18 percent), recoveries (nine percent), endowments (nine percent), and other revenue (three percent). Lennon said the university transfers are tuition monies collected from arts, science, and engineering students that are used to subsidize U of T Law tuition. Lennon highlighted that from 2014–15 to 2021–22, JD tuition rose 1.3 percent a year on average but the financial aid budget grew 6.6 percent a year on average. The average net tuition of a JD student who qualifies for financial aid has declined from $21,021 in 2014–15 to $15,475 in 2021–22. Average tuition for students who do not qualify for financial aid has increased from $30,230 to $33,040 over this same period.
Lennon and Dean Brunnée noted that the only practical way to decrease JD tuition is to decrease the number of faculty members and staff compensation. However, U of T Law deliberately duplicates some University-wide services (e.g., a dedicated U of T Law Mental Health Counsellor) to provide better services to U of T Law students. Decreasing the number of faculty would likely decrease the diversity of courses and increase course sizes. Faculty said they have repeatedly asked the Government of Ontario to unfreeze operating grants, but they have not been sympathetic.
Dean Brunnée said she was disappointed that SLS President Damte commented on the lack of transparency surrounding the budget and financial aid given the Faculty provides annual budget presentations and had a Tuition Roundtable last academic year. The Tuition Roundtable is scheduled to reconvene in 2023–24. The next Faculty Council Meeting is scheduled for February 8, 2023.
