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Dean's Lunch -- Liveblog

Sorry guys, running a couple minutes late, here we go

12:49: There are 30 people here, mostly three Ls and professors.
12:49: Dean seems tired, or disappointed with turn out. Still talking about our steady curve of tuition expansion as well as expansion of LRAP and financial aid targeted at need.
12:50: As tuition has been going up, diversity has not gone down. People still like our rank, and that we're "cool," ... and the rankings
12:50: Faculty hires have gone up 35 this past year -- while general faculty on the rest of campus has most definitely NOT been rising.
12:51: Faculty hiring though was getting us out of a hole. 7 years ago we were 128 w/ re student-faculty ratio.
12:52: Other part of investment went to fiscal planning.
12:52 As per KVDH (my hero) email, hallway will be open for new semester
12:53: Long term problems: in 1990, state share of budget was 90%, today it is 25%. This in conjunction with Alums feeling the belief that this was a public school and thus not giving at a rate comparable to other schools.
12:54: The reg and ed fee that we pay to campus is about equal to the amount of state support we now get -- thus, it is kind of a wash. State pays us, we pay the school (instead of the state having to), we raise fees.
12:56: Giving has contracted a bit with the recession but may be picking up
12:57: Currently, we are raising more from Corps and Foundations than we had expected. 40% of budget comes from fees; 30% comes from alumni -- oo, couldn't see that slide good or do other things good either.
12:58: Q: Why are research centers included in student services? A: they are not; neither is library, oddly.
12:59: Tuition this year 44K, 10K to campus, 34K stays. Next year: plan for last several years has been to increase our pro degree fee to 35K, reg ed fee will (assuming the regents vote as expected tomorrow) go up; he's trying to make sure that we get to keep any increase that happens with that general reg-ed fee.
1:00: We have been comparing ourselves to the other "so called publics" in the top 10 (VA and MI). MI has been pegged to 5-10% below average of privates, VA has been slightly below MI. DE advocated for MI tuition or 5-10% under private. The reasoning: be a top 10 law school.
1:02: His strategy has been to keep us T10, give scholarships, and invest in LRAP
1:02: Increase in pro degree fee is going to: 1) cover inflation (things we currently use pro fee to support increase w/ inflation (e.g., salaries), so we have to keep up; 2) 40% back into financial aid; 3) remainder is cost of bonds we got for the reconstruction. NOTE: for the 125 million in construction, the state gave us 1 million. Ten years ago UCLA did a similar thing and it was almost entirely paid for by the state. Now, state only really pays for seismic stuff -- and we are quake-proof already
1:05: Q: is increase in reg ed pushing our overall thing over the planned t-10 minus 5-10%. A: no, we are just making cuts instead -- e.g., teachers.
1:05: Q: Will fees ever go down if recession goes away? A: Probably not. State will not give money to higher ed, just to prisons. Hmm, moral, get arrested?
1:07: Median income for our grads is about 4x median income across state; for SacTown, to fund us is to tax the rest of the state for people who as a general matter will be better off.
1:09: Hey, we'd sell the name of the school for around 9 figures. Google Law at Berkeley?
1:11: Q: how much of the research centers is covered by the general Boalt budget? A: the research centers get about 300K a year out of our 78 million budget -- I think I heard that right
1:13: Q: Where does our money go? A: State money goes almost entirely to pay faculty salaries and librarians -- covers about 60% of faculty salaries; everything else at the school is paid for by us and alums. Much of what we pay could be paid with state or our money, they are fungible.
1:15: People are being really civil, this convo is much better than I'd imagined, kind of a piss poor showing in terms of students though.
1:17: Enter D. Tomi*aga -- how do we compare w/ peers w/ re aid? Other schools are tight lipped (pause) by design (b/c they are tied to admissions).
1:19: Someone is knitting. I used to know how to knit. I used to know how to do a lot of things. Now i just law, and self loath.
1:21: Why do the other law school accept their fees? MI and VA get no help and pay a tax to central campus. They started doing this -- and the alumni fundraising -- in the 80's and 90's. We were flat during that whole time -- kind of our awkward teenage years if you will
1:22: There is literally a 1-1 ratio of faculty to students here. I'm counting the knitting girl as faculty (obviously)
1:23: Edley is getting impassioned. He thinks that there is a reason that there should be a top ten law school at Berkeley and in CA. That the opportunities to work within the UC community deserve a top 10 law school. "We are no longer publicly funded but we can still have a public mission and public values."
1:28: Q: Financial aid: 1) 40% of fee increase back, are we meeting this? 2) Need based financial aid has gone down for most, wtf? 3) Are LRAP commitments sustainable ITE? A: 3) We don't know, we are worried. We think that large firms will pick up (it has dropped 10% over last 2 years). 1) This year: 45%, next year 42%. Hmm, confused Petch. But note, this number may go down if we get a lot of targeted aid donations from alum/corps. 2) We are trying to keep pace. Fin aid pays for: LRAP, ooo shit, I totally spaced out
1:35: Oh, snap. Guy just called Dennis Toma*ga "Dean Tom."
1:36: Reason fin aid isn't all need based is to have diversity of people who are cool and to get navy seals. We don't use matching just to get people with high LSATs.
1:37: Q: Will there be a mid-year fee increase and is this settled? A: He hasn't and won't ask for more than the multi-year plan; the variable is the reg/ed fee. He thinks we should be exempt. Tomorrow they plan an 8% increase in reg/ed. He does not want to do mid-year fee increases. He asked for 1K last year.
1:37-1:48: bicker. bicker.
1:48: What's going on with capital campaign? Things are hopefully picking up! We need for anxiety in legal profession to die down. They want to know where the bottom is (isn't that what grindr is for?).
1:52: Before things started getting better (most.overplayed.expression.of.the.year.) the reading room carpet looked like Jackson Polack, there were 30 types of chairs, and KVDH says that they were all broken. I know I asked this as a 1L, but seriously, how is her hair so perfect and shiny?!
1:53: Why should 3Ls give? It signals to alums that students believe in the school and that they have to step up.
1:56: LAST Q: Will we maintain pace with the other T10 schools? A: Yes. We are getting rockstar faculty (I'm looking at you SM), our students keep getting better (if way more annoying), and we're on good pace (even if this state is broken).

PETCH OUT

Full post as published by Nuts & Boalts on November 16, 2010 (boomark / email).