Obiter Dicta Issue 6 - November 18, 2013 | Page 15

PAGE 15 news What you can do about how much we pay for law school » continued from cover • Osgoode’s tuition currently increases at 5% per year, which the maximum rate permitted by statute. This rate exceeds inflation. At this rate of increase, tuition will surpass $33,000 in 9 years. • Osgoode’s tuition has three main drivers: 1) enhancement of academic programs and the student experience, 2) increasing the number of full-time faculty, and 3) to pay for rising salary and benefit costs. • Osgoode’s annual operating expenses are $23 million; of this amount, 81.67% went to salaries and benefits while the remaining percentage was spent on operating costs, utilities, scholarships and bursaries. Fulltime faculty receive $10.7 million of this pie, while support staff receive $6 million. • Osgoode possesses the fourth highest ratio of students-to-professors in Canada, at 16.2 – in comparison, the University of Toronto has the lowest ratio at 10. • Financial aid per student as a percentage of student cost was found to be similar at the four schools that were compared, namely Osgoode, U of T, Ottawa (civil law), and Western – all four schools allocated total financial aid that was between 16% and 20% of total student cost, per student. So what can you do about it? To study tuition issues further, Student Caucus has formed a working group to study the causes of high tuition and ultimately, to develop work product aimed at reducing the financial barriers of entry into law school in Ontario and increasing the capability of students to pursue career alternatives that may be less financially remunerative than practice at a large firm. All Osgoode students with an interest in these issues are invited to join this working group. Please email [email protected] for more information. If you would like further reading on Ontario law school tuition, the following may be of interest: • Starting the Conversation on Tuition, the aforementioned Obiter Dicta article from April 2013: http://obiter-dicta. ca/2013/04/06/starting-the-conversationon-tuition/ • A recent Globe and Mail article from a U of T student: http://goo.gl/rB3wBl • Ultra Vires’ articles on tuition: http://ultravires.ca/tag/tuition/ • The UT Law Tuition Petition: http://tuitionpetition.ca • The Windsor Star’s coverage of tuition research done by a Windsor Law student: http://goo.gl/sB845x • An article from the Canadian Bar Association: http://www.cba.org/cba/national/Students/Student01.aspx • The LSUC’s Career Choices Study (starts on page 34): http://goo.gl/pcjqiQ Film reviews » continued from page 11 The string of star cameos, including Paul Giamatti, is distracting in some cases. Paul Dano is saddled with lines of borderline-ludicrous hysteria, scenes which do not rise to the brilliance of There Will Be Blood. Brad Pitt as the rights-spouting saviour is a bit too on-the-nose, although the message is heard loud and clear. There have also been allegations that Steve McQueen’s austere directorial style comes into conflict with the narrative, and it is true that DP Sean Bobbitt’s ravishing formal beauty and crisp sense of composition may deprive audiences of a degree of engagement with the horrors on screen. But McQueen is working with gripping material and great actors that punch their way through these constraints. They should be given credit for presenting everything at face value, rather than dipping into sensationalism. 12 Years a Slave is a stunning work that tramples doubts, champions courage, and leaves a river of tears in its wake. Kendall has a blog! For more film reviews, check out Absurdity & Serenity at http://absurditys.wordpress.com/. © 2012–2013 Cassels Brock & Blackwell LLP. All rights reserved. | 416 869 5300 The Obiter Dicta Cassels Brock 2013/2014 season Obiter Dicta student ad “Yellow - Resolve Disputes” 4B Prestige, b&w Contact: Heather Murray [email protected] 416 869 5782 - fax [phone] Monday, November 18, 2013 Please PRINT a hard copy of the file and either FAX it or SCAN and EMAIL it back to me, thanks!