Zoom School of Law is here to stay for the Fall 2020 semester. For the Baltimore-DMV Area law schools, the hybrid model is the prevailing mode with which the class of 2023 is going to start their legal education. Most of us will have the majority of our classes online with no change to the published tuition of my law schools. Zoom School of Law’s Real Cost of Attendance doesn’t stop there though.
We Won’t Be Using Any Facilities
Remember visiting campus and seeing that beautiful law library and fancy studying rooms? As you walked through those esteemed ivory halls envisioning yourself spending all day studying next to floor-to-3-level-high-ceiling windows, did you ever imagine that this glorious building would be closed for 4 months out of a year? No? Welcome to 2020.
In the fall, all law school buildings will either be closed to the public and students or restricted to 25% of the building’s capacity. No peaceful studying for the most important semester of law school for the class of 2023. Oh, and we’re still paying full tuition for those lovely buildings we aren’t using. And those super fast computers, scanners, and printers that are already paid for by your tuition dollars? Yeah, you won’t be using those either. Great.
Indirect “Online School” Costs
So instead of using the law school’s wi-fi, electricity, and other utilities for 10+ hours per day, we will running up our own in our cramped apartments 24/7. And if your roommates are also students, be prepared for $400 electricity bills and the most expensive internet plans. Even if you are extremely frugal, spending more time at home means spending more money at home.
Couple that with everyone being home all the time so people are walking around talking, going to the bathroom, cooking, and just causing a ruckus while you are struggling to understand what the heck is going on in Cohen v. Smith and you have a recipe for a D in torts.
Because you are at home, you will be purchasing your own printer if you need one and you’re going to need to invest in a quality desk, office chair, and other office furniture to sustain you for Zoom School of Law at home.
No In-Person Socialization
So after you have shelled out for empty beautiful buildings and your roommates 40-minutes showers, you won’t be able to let off steam with your fellow miserable classmates about how Zoom School of Law sucks at a student clubhappy hour.
While some students are still going to form in-person study groups or go clubbing (“bar review”), others who are high risk or follow public health guidelines will be quarantining. No matter what your individual preferences are, clubs and organizations are not going to be hosting events to the same extent as they have the in past. Rather, they will either host virtual events or forgo the events all together. Just do yourself a favor and buy yourself a bottle of wine.
In-person opportunities to meet current judges and alumni for internships and clerkship opportunities won’t happen in the fall of 2020. Those serendipitous meetings between students and future employers will have to wait for Spring 2021 (maybe).
Professors Don’t Know What They’re Doing
If Spring 2020 taught us anything about Zoom School of Law, its that law school professors don’t what how to taught law student virtually. law students across the nation and the globe shared on social media last semester how their law professors struggled to respond to emails timely, conduct virtual office hours, navigate zoom, and in general provide quality instruction remotely.
Law school professors are accustomed to teaching in-person and teaching the same way they have been teaching for decades. The legal industry is one of the most obstinate industries in terms of technology and mentality. Most law schools professors cannot or do not want to imagine teaching law classes any differently than the way they themselves were taught. Translating their old-school methods to a post-pandemic educational landscape will not necessarily result in the best instruction.
It will probably result in a lot of Ds.
In my neck-of-the-woods, no law school is offering to discount their tuition despite not offering a full, traditional instructional model.
Baltimore-DMV Area Law Schools Staying Fully Remote:
UDC David A. Clarke School of Law
University of Baltimore School of Law
Baltimore-DMV Area Law Schools Pursuing a Hybrid Model:
Georgetown Law
Howard University School of Law
American University Washington College of Law
George Mason University Antonin Scalia Law School
University of Maryland School of Law
The George Washington University Law School
Most other law schools across the nation have gone online or hybrid as well.This is the new law school normal. We are paying the same price for half the value and so many other costs that we did not sign up for.
Wish us luck.
