Visiting U. of Houston Law Center Forum

[FunkyJD]

I'm going to have a free Friday soon, and I'd like to visit UHLC. Can anyone recommend a first-year class I should try and sit on?

Curious to know if there's a particular professor whose Friday class you'd especially recommend observing.

[Bustang]

Tag. I am interested as well.

[Zojirushi]

Bustang, have you decided on Houston? I am 99% sure I will be there. Are you going to the March 12th ASD?

[Bustang]

Bustang, have you decided on Houston? I am 99% sure I will be there. Are you going to the March 12th ASD?

I'm putting SMU's balls into my mouth until they accept/reject me. I'm debating between Houston/Tulane in the back of my brain, however. I'll have to check out the ASD dates, but that seems like a good one.

[Zojirushi]

I'm putting SMU's balls into my mouth until they accept/reject me.

I'm sorry?

[Zojirushi]

From my friend who graduated last year: Duncan's Torts class.

[Bustang]

I'm putting SMU's balls into my mouth until they accept/reject me.

I'm sorry?

I'm figuratively speaking of course.

[FunkyJD]

From my friend who graduated last year: Duncan's Torts class.

Thank you. And thank you to Bustang for inducing me to spew beverage from my mouth all over my keyboard in laughter. Odd way to put it, but okay.

[Zojirushi]

My friend also said Crump used to make girls cry. That may or may not make for an entertaining 0L observation experience.

[ec2xs]

I'm visiting next weekend so that my visit will coincide with the Houston law forum (Feb 13th). Figure I can meet some reps from schools that I'm scouting and get my UH visit done in one swing. Anyone else going for the forum?

[FunkyJD]

Was not aware that there was a Feb. 13 forum in Houston. Not sure if I can attend, but will see. Thanks for the information.

[ec2xs]

http://www.lsac.org/choosing/law-school ... forums.asp

[Josh the Goat]

If you guys are still looking to visit UH some time let me know. I'm a 2L and I'd be glad to show you around.

[hotdog123]

Reposting for the cougar hopefuls.


Ouch........

http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/met ... 69559.html

Law school students to see biggest tuition increase
By JEANNIE KEVER
Copyright 2010 Houston Chronicle
Feb. 16, 2010, 12:43PM

Students will pay a little more at the University of Houston next year.

Law students will pay much more. Regents this morning approved a 16.5 percent increase for students at the law school.

Law school Dean Ray Nimmer defended the increase — originally proposed as a 20 percent hike but whittled down before today's board meeting — as a necessity.

“Legal education has just skyrocketed in cost around the country,” he said. “We've held our own even though we haven't done any large tuition increases. But with state budget cuts and with the demands of being able to run a really good law school, we just have to do it.”

Undergraduate tuition at UH will rise by 3.95 percent. It will go up at other UH system schools, as well:

• UH-Downtown, 5.1 percent.

• UH-Clear Lake, 4.5 percent.

• UH-Victoria, 3.8 percent.

Regent Nandita Berry cast the only “no” vote.

“I personally cannot ask students to pay more in today's economy,” she said. “It's a tough decision.”

Berry said the university should cut its budget instead, although she declined to suggest where the cuts should be made. That is an administrative decision, she said.

In fact, UH and all other public universities in the state just completed plans to trim 5 percent of state funding from their current budget. Gov. Rick Perry and other state leaders asked for the plans, although they haven't yet ordered them to be enacted.

UH Provost John Antel said tuition increases over the past 20 years have generally offset a drop in the level of state funding. In 1990, he said, state money covered 54 percent of the university's operating budget. This year, it's 32 percent.

“We realize we have to become more self-supporting,” he said.

The tuition increases were approved by a board committee last week, sparking a vocal protest from state Sen. John Whitmire, D-Houston. He wrote UH Chancellor Renu Khator, calling the law school increases “unconscionable.”

There was little discussion of the proposal today.

Overall, graduate tuition at UH will go up 7.7 percent. It will climb 9.6 percent at UH-Clear Lake, 5.5 percent at UH-Downtown and 3.9 percent at UH-Victoria.

The law school increase generated the most talk.

Incoming students next fall will actually pay 26.5 percent more; current students will see their tuition go up 12 percent.

“We have to hold that back,” Antel said. “They came here with an expectation for what they would pay.”

Nimmer defended the increase as necessary to continue the law school's climb in the national rankings. He said tuition at UH is currently about 35 percent less than that at the University of Texas at Austin's law school, and about half that at the law schools at Baylor University and Southern Methodist University.

“Obviously, nobody wants to pay more,” he said of student reaction.

But Erin Ferris, a third-year law student, said students understand the need to pay more.

“The overwhelming response from the student body is, we need to preserve the rankings and get better,” she said.

[FunkyJD]

Thanks for the post, DonnyMost. Well, that's going to affect the decision analysis models for where to attend, no?

Wonder what this is going to do to their USN rank.

[fathergoose]

Thanks for the post, DonnyMost. Well, that's going to affect the decision analysis models for where to attend, no?

For sure. SMU went from being twice as expensive to 14k or so more expensive. It changes the amount of money SMU has to give people to draw them away from UH

[FunkyJD]

Thanks for the post, DonnyMost. Well, that's going to affect the decision analysis models for where to attend, no?

For sure. SMU went from being twice as expensive to 14k or so more expensive. It changes the amount of money SMU has to give people to draw them away from UH

Yeah, here's a screen capture just now from a webcam of the admissions and financial aid staff at SMU, after they heard this news:

--ImageRemoved--

[utswdukie80]

Thanks for the post, DonnyMost. Well, that's going to affect the decision analysis models for where to attend, no?

For sure. SMU went from being twice as expensive to 14k or so more expensive. It changes the amount of money SMU has to give people to draw them away from UH

This really bothers me. UH is known for three things: Health law, IP law, and being a great value. Now, they're neutralizing that third asset by jacking up tuition. Why? There's no way you can compete with UT (too much tradition and prestige) and now you're lowering the cost advantage you held over SMU (a private school in a much better area). If they don't concurrently increase the amount of scholarship to cover the increased tuition, I will be attending elsewhere.

[Zojirushi]

I think it is a good move. This will help the school become more competitive. Its a great school held back by poor facilities/location. SMU is still over 10K difference and they aren't giving out many scholarships for sub-164 LSAT scores. I think in the long run this will only help UH.

[Josh the Goat]

When the UH Dean first presented the increased tuition, they said they're not going to be immediately competing with UT, but unless they increase their tuition to close the gap between UH and other Texas schools, then the gap will continue to grow. So it's more of a long-term attempt to keep the rankings close, as opposed to trying to immediately jump up in numbers.

Still sucks though when you're paying for the higher tuition without an immediate benefit from it.

[FunkyJD]

My thought is, are there plans in place to use the tuition increase to build new facilities and improve other significant aspects of the school, or will this increase simply cover budget shortfalls and essentially help them "stay in the same place," if you will.

I am afraid that the latter might be true, based on Dean Nimmer's statement from the article:

“We've held our own even though we haven't done any large tuition increases. But with state budget cuts and with the demands of being able to run a really good law school, we just have to do it.”

If I'm wrong, someone correct me. Show me.

For an OOS person who wants to study law in Texas, OOS tuition at UH would now be within $5,000 or so of SMU, if my quick but dim-witted math is correct.

Edit:

Still sucks though when you're paying for the higher tuition without an immediate benefit from it.

This.

[Josh the Goat]

There's currently a proposal to build a new facility at UH, but it needs approval from the board of regents before it goes into action. So this increase is just to cover budget expenses because the Texas Legislature slashed public college funding for the next academic year.

[hotdog123]

IMO, 16.5% is too drastic an increase from one year to the next.

Obviously UH benefits from high demand, so they can afford to do this, but it is a bitter pill to swallow for the '13 class as they will bear the brunt of the cost and experience none of the benefits.