A breakdown of what tuition pays for at Osgoode
JD Students at Osgoode Hall have the dubious distinction of paying the second highest law school tuition in Canada: $23,599. But ever wonder what your tuition is actually paying for, and what causes Osgoode tuition to be so high? The pOZcast (the student-run podcast) has been conducting an analysis trying to determine the breakdown of how tuition dollars are being allocated. But providing a breakdown of tuition is easier said than done. This article is an attempt to look into Osgoode’s books and answer the question: what is my $23,599 paying for?
Tuition at Canadian Law schools from Lowest to Highest
| Canadian law schools | Tuition per year (not including ancillary fees) |
| McGill | $2,273 ($6,641)* |
| Moncton | $5,604 |
| Victoria | $9,029 |
| Manitoba | $9,311 |
| New Brunswick | $9,837 |
| Alberta | $10,221 |
| UBC | $11,448 |
| Saskatchewan | $12,015 |
| Calgary | $12,315 |
| Dalhousie | $12,497 ($13,519)* |
| Lakehead | $15,594 |
| Windsor | $16,049 |
| Ottawa | $16,061 |
| Queen’s | $16,931 |
| Thompson Rivers | $17,828 |
| Western | $18,421 |
| Osgoode (York) | $22,672 |
| Toronto | $30,230 |
*Out-of-province tuition rate
Data courtesy of Maclean’s Magazine
Tuition in the Big Picture
Osgoode does not actually get to spend the entire $23,599 you pay for tuition; holdback from York University, mandatory set-asides, and ancillary fees take a certain amount away from Osgoode’s general spending coffers. It is also worth saying upfront that Osgoode is not a for-profit business: Dean Sossin does not get to take home more money because of a budget surplus. Generally speaking, any surplus funds are invested back into the institution. That said, this has not stopped tuition from increasing at a surprising rate. Tuition has increased almost 500% since the year 2000, when tuition was $4,649.
Osgoode students collectively paid roughly $21.1 million of JD tuition and fees in 2014/15. But finding where that money goes was not a simple task; a particular hurdle was that Osgoode does not track JD tuition separately as a revenue stream. Collection of tuition is handled centrally by York University. York separates the ancillary fees, adds money from provincial grants, holds money to pay for common facilities and services (Scott Library, IT infrastructure), and then forwards the remaining sum to Osgoode. In 2014/15, Osgoode received just over $28.7 million as its allocation from York. While likely an inflated figure, JD tuition makes roughly $20.3 million of that allocation.
Perhaps surprisingly, JD tuition only makes up slightly over half, 54%, of Osgoode’s total revenue for 2014/15, and that is with the generous assumption that York does not hold back any of it, nor does it factor LLM/PhD tuition, and the mandatory set-aside for bursaries; meaning that actual revenue is lower than stated above. Osgoode’s other revenue sources include government funding, external cost recoveries, and revenue from Osgoode’s Professional Development (OPD) program that it runs downtown. This is to say that revenue from tuition alone would not come close to covering Osgoode’s costs.
The Breakdown
*Graph depicts 1L tuition minus ancillary fees from 1998/99 to 2014/15. Data courtesy of Osgoode Student Services.
The following provides a breakdown of current 1L tuition, $23,599, by subject matter of expense, and the percentage of that figure against tuition as a whole. The breakdown of tuition is as follows: ancillary fees – $927 (4%); bursaries and financial aid – $3,369 (14%); salaries – $14,765 (68%); and operating costs – $4,538 (19%).
Ancillary Fees – $927.22 – 4%
JD students pay $927.22 in ancillary fees. The large majority of these fees are charged by York University to pay for central services such as $277 for recreation and athletics, and $132.66 for counselling. Smaller individual fees go to specific organization or causes, as approved by referenda: of note, $60 of fees paid are dedicated to the Legal and Literary Society, $7.95 for CLASP, $3 for the Obiter Dicta. Before you cast aspersions on these organizations for their wealth, it should be noted that access to these funds requires a financial audit, which can be quite costly.
Breakdown of Ancillary Fees Paid by JD Students
| Centrally Collected Ancillary Fees | Per JD Student |
| Athletics/Recreation | $277.38 |
| Cultural and Special Services | $192.96 |
| Counselling | $132.66 |
| Student Centre – Capital | $138.28 |
| Faculty Government | $60.00 |
| Osgoode Career Centre | $40.00 |
| Osgoode Bursary Fund | $25.00 |
| Student Centre – Operating | $19.50 |
| Osgoode Law Journal | $10.00 |
| Community and Legal Aid Services Program (CLASP) | $7.94 |
| CHRY – Radio Station | $4.50 |
| Excalibur (York student newspaper) | $4.00 |
| Ontario Public Interest Research Group (OPIRG) | $3.00 |
| The Centre for Women and Trans People | $3.00 |
| Obiter Dicta | $3.00 |
| Osgoode Yearbook (collect by Legal and Literary Society) | $3.00 |
| Sexual Assault Survivors Support Line | $2.10 |
| World University Service of Canada | $0.90 |
| TOTAL | 927.22 |
Bursaries and Financial Aid – $3,369 – 14% of Tuition
Taking away ancillary fees, “tuition” for a 1L in 2014/15 was $22,672.10. However, as mentioned, Osgoode does not have complete freedom to use that money as it pleases. Just over 10% of tuition is government mandated to be set-aside for student financial assistance; in 2014/15 the set-aside amount was over $2.3 million. In addition, Osgoode administration also chooses to dedicate almost $700,000 for JD scholarships and bursaries. Thus on a per capita basis, each JD students pays roughly $3,369 for bursaries and scholarships.
This puts data from the Osgoode bursary process in some context. 493 students, out of 529 eligible applicants, received a bursary in 2014/15. Of this, sixty-one students received $10,000 bursaries, 166 students received $5,000 bursaries, and 206 students received $1,200 bursaries. Additionally, in accordance with government mandates, sixty students received bursaries in various amounts. Overall, more than $2.2 million were distributed.
The Rest? ($19,303)
Simply put, $19,303 is the amount of your tuition Osgoode uses to pay for salaries and operational costs. But this is where the exercise of calculating the breakdown for the remaining portion of tuition is significantly less precise. Since Osgoode does not track JD tuition separately, it is impossible to say precisely how much goes into professor’s salaries, as an example. While teaching JD students forms an important part of professors’ salaries, other aspects such as graduate supervision, scholarly contributions, and institutional service also account for their earnings, which it would be unfair to characterize as wholly paid for by JD students. The following figures were obtained by attributing the same percentage towards tuition paid, as the percentage of the expense line versus total expense. As a result, the following attributions are rough estimations at best.
Salaries – $14,765 – 63% of Tuition
By far the largest expense on the Osgoode budget is salaries: $26.9 million. Faculty salaries make the largest expense at over $12.1 million or 32% of total revenue. Next is support staff salaries, including student services and administrative support at $10.1 million, or 27% of total revenue. Contract faculty, which includes the many adjunct professors, is a relative small expense at over $1.7 million or 5% of total revenue.
| SALARY EXPENSES | |
| Faculty Administration (Deans’ Offices) | $75,408 |
| Faculty | $12,146,610 |
| Contract Faculty | $1,743,405 |
| Teaching Assistants | $191,780 |
| Research Staff | $1,517,151 |
| Support Staff | $10,123,406 |
| Other Salaries | $1,077,663 |
| Total Salaries and Benefits | $26,875,423 |
Data Courtesy of the Office of the Executive Officer
Undoubtedly, Osgoode’s high tuition can be largely attributed to its large faculty. Osgoode’s faculty is currently at fifty-eight members. Dividing total faculty salary by the number of faculty shows that the average Osgoode professor costs $209,424 of salary and benefits.
Number of Professors on Law Faculty
| Law School | Number of Professors listed on Faculty Website* |
| Toronto | 65 |
| Osgoode | 58** |
| Ottawa | 40 (English program only) |
| Western | 39 |
| Queen’s | 36 |
| Windsor | 30 |
| Lakehead | 7 |
*Emeritus, retired, and professors on leave counted unless explicitly demarcated on school’s website
**Actual Osgoode figure
Operating Costs – $4,538 – 19% of Tuition
Osgoode currently does not pay directly for its operating costs; as a result, actual costs are likely higher than the reported $7.5 million that Osgoode budgeted for 2014/15. This will change in the next few years: under a new budget model, each faculty department will be responsible for its own facilities.
The Flex Fund
Maybe you have heard of the Flex Fund, which is calculated by taking revenue and subtracting expenses, which is essentially the Osgoode spin on what a business might call gross profits. In 2014/15, revenue exceeded expenses by $2.3 million, though the actual Flex Fund is larger because of a positive carry-forward from previous years. That said, it was not included in this breakdown as money for the Flex Fund primarily comes from profit from OPD rather than tuition, according to the Office of the Executive Officer.
The Flex Fund is a discretionary fund from which the Dean can use to fund various initiatives, both from students and faculty. An important caveat though is that this money cannot be used for full-time salaries. In other words, when money is coming from the “Dean’s Office,” it is likely coming out of this fund.
Budget Surpluses and Tuition is Going Up?
Osgoode is in fairly good financial shape; it has run budget surpluses for the last three years and has paid down a structural deficit. So this may lead many students to ask why the plan is to increase tuition by 5%, the maximum allowed amount, for the foreseeable future. The administration has explained uncertainty from other revenue sources, potential added costs as a result of the change in budgeting models, and contractual salary raises necessitate these tuition increases. In addition, Osgoode values being a leader in legal education, and the drive to enhance the Osgoode experience pushes the law school towards growth and expansion, rather than shrinkage.
The Broader Discussion on Tuition
Much has already been said about high tuition and the “access to justice” issue. We are already seeing some of the effects of high tuition on the composition of the class at Osgoode; less than 20% of applicants applying to Osgoode in 2014/15 cited coming from low-income situations, and this statistic is moving in a downward trend according to a report from the Osgoode Admissions Committee. Notably, Osgoode has looked to remedy this by exploring a “flexible JD” program, an extended degree of more than three years, with a schedule more conducive to working while pursuing law school. There is also the much acclaimed announcement of the income-contingent loan program, where five students would go to Osgoode tuition free, and only repay upon graduating and securing a job that pays well enough.
There is also the discussion of how high tuition is affecting career choice. Many students feel constrained especially in the short-term after graduating to choose more lucrative practice areas in light of a large student-debt, and despite their passion or reason for coming to law school. Back-end scholarships such as the Wendy Babcock bursary, and the currently being-fundraised “Osgoode 125 Fund”, are efforts to alleviate this kind of stress. While commendable, these initiatives would not even be needed if tuition was reasonably affordable in the first place.
Conclusion
The often heard refrain of Osgoode students: “With the amount of tuition I’m paying, you’d think I could get X,” and replace X with any number of student complaints. Understandably, students want high quality services and facilities given the amount paid, especially considering the steps it takes to even pay tuition: summer employment, applying for government loans, lines of credits. As a result, minor things like non-functioning electric sockets, fees to use Examsoft (currently being covered by funds from the Dean’s Office), slow internet, etc., are particularly enraging for students.
However, while students are good at asking for more, if students want to get serious about lowering tuition, the discussion has to centre around getting less. Would students sacrifice the number and variety of available classes, replace full-time faculty with more adjunct professors, eliminate “localised” student services, such as transcript ordering and career counselling, if that meant lower tuition? This is the kind of discussion that Osgoode needs to have to be serious about reducing tuition. Of course, increased government funding, more third-party investments, or professors and staff agreeing to a pay-cut would allow for lower tuition without Osgoode needing to cutback; the likelihood of that happening is not especially high. The conversation around tuition has been going for years now, but are we ready to have the real discussion?
Special thanks to Assistant Dean Mya Rimon, Manager of Admissions and Student Financial Services Christine Hunter, and Executive Officer Phyllis Lepore-Babcock for speaking with me and providing data for this article.