Summary: The University of Toledo is lowering the costs of in-state-tuition for its college of law.
The Board of Trustees of the University of Toledo unanimously approved lowering of tuition costs for its college of law on Monday. The board approved a 13 percent cut to the tuitions for students entering the law school in 2015, the Toledo Blade reported. However, on the Board of Trustee page of the university’s website, the links to the agenda or minutes of the meeting on September 15 were inaccessible.
The university is reducing the current tuition costs of the law school from $20,579 to $17,900 effective for the fall session of 2015. However, such heavy cuts are applicable only for in-state and Michigan students. For out-of-state students the cost cutting would be smaller, though significant as costs will drop nearly 8 percent, from $$33,752 to $31,074.
The dean of the law school, Daniel J. Steinbock supported the cuts in tuitions to make the school more competitive. He said rising tuition costs are partly responsible for the decline in law school applicants across the country. Over the last decade, the tuition costs at the University of Toledo law school had increased by nearly 80 percent.
Toledo Blade reported Steinbock saying, “I think people decided law school was not going to give them a return on their investment. The main reason we are reducing our tuition is to make law school a better investment.”
The drop in applications to the law school has been huge. While even three years ago, the number of applicants was 1,400, this year that number had dropped to 475.
The associate dean for academic affairs, Kenneth Kilbert, convinced the board of trustees that decreasing tuition costs will not affect the finances of the university, as it would be offset by increased enrollment of students.