Effective Summer 2020, the University of San Diego's School Of Law plans to implement a tuition increase that will bring the per-unit price for paralegal students from $250 to $285 (a 14% increase). Notice of this change was given only the day before the first class session of incoming Spring 2020 students -- after we had already applied, been accepted, and committed to the year-long program. It should have been given up front so that we could consider the impending increase, which would affect 2/3 of our time at USD, before enrolling. As is, we did not receive fair notice. The only previous mention of it was one footnote to one attachment on the website that generally states 'fees are subject to change'. This does not suffice as it is easily missed and ambiguous.

Now, with the COVID19 crisis, not only has the quality of instruction unavoidably gone down due to the necessary transition to online instruction (although we do appreciate that the department is keeping the program going so that we can graduate on time), but also the economy is in chaos, with whole sectors of it being shut down, creating an extra financial hardship for many students who are currently out of work.

We hereby request that the tuition increase be delayed by two semesters, until Spring 2021, so that 1) all affected students can be properly notified before enrolling, 2) the economy has time to return to normal, making the increased rate more feasible for those impacted by the shutdown, and 3) instruction can return to its expected quality before students are asked to pay more for it.