UC Hastings Law School to $50K (Non-Resident Tuition)

Yesterday, UC Hastings College of Law told its students about next year’s prospective tuition. Due to the graphic nature of the content below, viewer discretion is advised. Please remember that Hastings is a public law school:

Let’s put those horrifying figures in appropriate context, Stanford Law School’s tuition for this academic year is $42,420. Stanford of course could go as high as Hastings in 2010 – 2011. But at least right now it looks like students will pay more to go law school at Hastings than at Stanford.
Tsu-nami, Snake! Tsunami!
After the jump, the Daily Journal tries to make sense of it all.


We’ve previously reported that tuition at UC law schools would be on the rise, but the Hastings situation seems beyond the pale. At what point do these tuition increases become mere price gouging?
The Daily Journal (subscription) explains that Hastings is particularly vulnerable to California’s budgetary crisis:

As state support continues to dwindle – the share of the school’s budget that comes from state funds has fallen from 50 percent in 2000 to 17 percent this year – Hastings has become a public institution forced to adopt more of a private-school funding model.
Tuition and fees for California residents will climb to $39,085 from $32,468 in the upcoming school year. Out-of-state residents will pay more than $50,000, making the San Francisco school more expensive than attending Stanford Law School or USC Gould School of Law, which charge $42,420 and $46,264, respectively, this academic year.
Hastings’ Chief Financial Officer David Seward expressed disappointment Thursday that the decision, made in September at the annual board of directors’ meeting, was necessary.
“It is unfortunate and sad that the public investment in higher education is deteriorating, particularly for professional schools,” he said. “To see this backtracking of what used to be called public education is distressing.”

Can you imagine what it must feel like to be a UC Hastings 2L right now? The job market has crashed and burned around you, and now the school is asking you to pay more — much more — with no indication that the market will sufficiently rebound by the time you graduate and have to start paying off your massive debt.
Couldn’t UC Hastings at least offer its 2Ls the ability to quit now and have their 1L tuition refunded? Current 2Ls didn’t know what they were getting into.
Click on the link below to read the full UC Hastings tuition increase memo.
UC Hastings Law School Tuition Increase.pdf
Earlier: UC Irvine Law Doesn’t Need U.S. News To Get Prestige

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