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Published online by Cambridge University Press: 18 July 2014
Last year, the Faculty of Law at the University of Toronto approved a plan that will see tuition fees increase from $12 000 to $22 000 dollars over the next five years. Other Canadian law faculties are beginning to follow, or are considering following, the University of Toronto's lead. In light of this trend toward higher tuition fees, the time is ripe to step back and ask: what will this mean for legal education in Canada? In particular, on the twentieth anniversary of the release of Law and Learning (the “Arthurs Report”), it would seem important to reflect on the impact that higher tuition fees might have on law and learning in Canada. What will dramatic increases in tuition mean for the values and laudable objectives set out in the Arthurs Report? These are some of the issues that I seek to address, partly through a personal reflection on my own experience as a law student and as someone who is near the completion of graduate studies in law.
1 Schmidt, Sarah, “Law School Tuition to Increase Across Country, Deans say” National Post (16 March 2002) A5Google Scholar; “Law School Deans Uneasy After University of Toronto Decides to Boost Tuition” Canadian Press Newswire (15 February 2002).
2 Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council Consultation Group on Research and Education in Law, Law and Learning (Ottawa: Minister of Supply and Services Canada, 1983)Google Scholar [Arthurs Report].
3 I should note that my remarks are not motivated by self interest as, thankfully, my own tuition fees as a doctoral student are set by the School of Graduate Studies at the University of Toronto and not the Faculty of Law.
4 Schmich, Mary & Luhrmann, Baz, “Everybody is Free to Wear Sunscreen” on Luhrmann, B., Something for Everybody (Capitol Records, 1998).Google Scholar
5 This concern is supported by some research findings in the United States. See Equal Justice Works et al. , From Paper Chase to Money Chase: Law School Debt Diverts Road to Public Service (Washington, DC: Equal Justice Works, 2002)Google Scholar, online: Equal Justice Works <http://www.napil.org/publications/lrapsurvey.pdf>.
6 See for example, Reaume, Denise and Phillips, Jim, “What Does Higher Tuition Buy?” National Post (27 December 2001) A19.Google Scholar
7 According to a recent study on accessibility and career choice carried out by the Provost of the University of Toronto, 51 % of students in the Faculty of Law received some form of financial aid in 2002. Seven percent of students received bursary assistance that covered the full amount of their tuition fees: Neuman, Shirley, Provost's Study of Accessibility and Career Choice in the Faculty of Law (February 24, 2003) at 18Google Scholar, online: University of Toronto <http://www.newsandevents.utoronto.ca/misc/lawaccess.pdf>. The Faculty provided $1.7 million in financial aid in 2002 and this is expected to rise to $3.6 million in 2007: Sue Toye, “Law Faculty Raises the Bar: Five-Year Plan to Increase Faculty's Annual Base Budget”, online: University of Toronto <http://www.newsandevents.utoronto.ca/bin2/020129c.asp>.
8 The Provost's study, ibid., concludes that the increases in tuition accompanied by high levels of financial aid offered by the Faculty of Law have not led to fewer students from lower income groups, women, or visible minorities attending the faculty. The study was conducted at the request of the Governing Council at the University of Toronto before it would approve the second year of the Faculty of Law's proposed five year increase.
9 Supra note 2 at 136.
10 Supra note 2 at 19.
11 Supra note 2 at 19–20.
12 Supra note 2 at 155.
13 For example, financial pressures arising from a freeze on tuition fees in the province of Quebec have prompted McGill University's Faculty of Law to contemplate privatizing its programme: see Chouinard, Marie-Andrée, “Recherche de financement: McGill envisage la privatisation de sa faculté de droit” Le Devoir (18 October 2002) A1.Google Scholar
