The cost of Obamacare: 660% increase

...if you're a student at the University of the District of Columbia.

The cost for mandatory health insurance for the 2012-13 academic year was $149 per year (according to this page, which hasn't yet been updated as of September 20th). This year:

$149 to $1,133 represents a 660% increase in the cost of health insurance, which is mandatory for all students.

To be clear, the University itself specifically indicated in an email that Obamacare's increased coverage requirements ("a minimum benefit of at least $100,000 per policy year, have no limits on benefits deemed essential by the Act, and provide a preventive care benefit with no deductible, co-pays or co-insurance") was the cause:

Due to changes in federal law (popularly known as Obamacare), the cost of coverage has increased significantly for the coming academic year.  

Students may waive the university-sponsored plan by providing proof of comparable coverage.  If you don't have coverage through your employer or other means, tough luck.

In a particularly sweet bit of irony, the image above was provided to me by a student who got a refund from the school, only after the school originally found his government-provided insurance to be insufficient.

Is the UDC exodus worse than expected?

Last month, I posted the reasons that I decided to transfer from UDC to Maryland. I speculated that the exodus from UDC would be noteworthy:

Other students choose to move on. I know of at least a half dozen students in the same boat as myself who have decided to transfer. I suspect the actual number is considerably higher. We had an incoming class of about 70 students last August. With those that are transferring and those that dropped out along the way, I will be very interested to see how many of those 70 students return next month. I wouldn't surprised to see 25% or even more who fail to return.

A good friend of mine who is still at UDC indicated that about 28 students from our original group of 70 were in class last night. Now it's certainly possible that not all returning evening students were in Monday night's class; although it is the model schedule so you'd expect most of them to be. Even so, it appears that something like 50% of the class has disappeared in barely a year. It's also worth mentioning that last year's evening class appears to have been unusually large as compared to the prior year's class.

Maryland and American appear to be the biggest beneficiaries of UDC transfer students. And of the 15 J.D. transfer students at Maryland, four (including me) came from UDC (two day students and two night students) and six transferred from the University of Baltimore.

Lastly, I know of at least one additional student who will likely transfer after the fall semester. I wouldn't be surprised if he/she isn't the only one.

Pretty sobering.

UM Carey Law: Initial observations

Some initial observations about my first two days (orientation) at the University of Maryland Francis King Carey School of Law:

• In one day, the school was able to somehow make me feel like part of a larger community. I never saw, felt, or experienced this at UDC.
• It's pretty nice to have the state's highest judge as an alum.
• The Dean asked how many students heard of, or read, Above the Law. She indicated that the leadership follows it, and generally recommended it as reading for law students about the state of legal education.
• Including day and evening students, this year's reported enrollment was 210 (roughly 175 day and 35 evening), compared with 264 (219 day, 45 evening) in 2012. That's a 20% drop off in one year.
• In the last four years, the evening program has enrolled ~75, ~50, 45, and now ~35 students; a 50% drop-off in three years.
• There are about 22 transfer students. Four from UDC, a bunch from the University of Baltimore, and the rest from other various places.
• For the first two full days of orientation, the amount of material applicable to transfer students could have been squeezed into a half day, at best. The rest of orientation should have been optional.
• Among the 22 or so transfer students, I appear to be the only one who is also an evening student. Perhaps this colors my view of the extended and unnecessary portions of orientation, as they took place during the day and required me to take two days off from work.
• Campus police indicated that the campus is the safest neighborhood in Baltimore City. This may be true. And if you live on or very near campus, this is a good thing. On the other hand, I am more interested in the safety (or lack thereof) of the neighborhoods that I have to traverse to get to school.
• Thursday morning I have a first class which ordinarily meets on Monday and Wednesday afternoons. It's just one day, but it's more time I'll have to take off from work. That being said, this is a class with brand new 1Ls (Torts) so it'll be interesting to be one of the "experienced" student in the class.

Despite a few hiccups, my experience has been largely positive. The staff has been extremely helpful in meeting my needs--which is especially useful when you're a transfer student with unique requirements. So far, I am very happy with the switch.

Farewell UDC

Today is my last day of class at UDC; and tonight are our final oral arguments for Moot Court.*

There are a lot of things I will not miss about UDC--I briefly mentioned a few them in my previous post about why I decided to transfer. On the other hand, I will certainly miss my classmates, many of whom I became good friends with over the last year (some of them decided to transfer to other schools, too). Evening students are typically older than recent undergrads and typically have some real-life work experience and most often a current, full-time job. In some ways, these shared attributes help to bond evening students together in a different way than day students might. There is often more talk about jobs and family and less talk about academics.

To those of you whom I became good friends with over the last year, I will miss hanging out with you; I might even miss (just a little) our shared complaints about certain professors or certain classes. Please, keep in touch. I won't be too far away.

* On a side note, I hope to be able to record tonight's oral arguments for later playback and mockery. One of my practice arguments was posted here; thankfully, my second practice argument (where we argued the opposite side) was not recorded. It. Was. A. Disaster. :-)

Why I transferred

When I was in the process of making my decision whether to transfer law schools, I decided I would eventually publish my reasons for making that decision. I also decided that I would wait until I was accepted and enrolled at the new school before I make the blog post. Now that I have enrolled at UM Carey Law, here are my reasons.

1. Better positioned to take the bar in Maryland. Although I'm not a big fan of the state of Maryland in general and don't necessarily want to stay here forever, I do expect that we will be here for the near future. As a result, I have always planned on taking the bar exam in Maryland. Getting my law degree from one of the two Maryland schools (University of Maryland or University of Baltimore) would better prepare me for that opportunity because both schools have Maryland-specific courses.

2. Better opportunities to network in the Maryland legal community. Because there are only two law schools in Maryland (and within a mile or so of each other), there are likely better opportunities for me to network in the Maryland legal community. While I'm currently working full-time with no expectations of leaving my job for a law job that may or not be there, it cannot hurt me to network within the very community that I will eventually hope to practice in.

3. Both Maryland schools have appellate practice clinics that work in Maryland courts. While I have made no decisions about what areas of law I'd like to practice, I have taken a special interest in appellate advocacy. Both Maryland schools have appellate advocacy clinics that argue cases in front of the Maryland Court of Special Appeals. This an opportunity that would not have existed for me at UDC.

4. Frankly, Maryland is a considerably better ranked school. While the US News rankings are not the be-all and end-all of rankings, they mean something. Transferring from a tier four (essentially, an unranked school) to a tier one school (top 50) school is a no-brainer if you have the opportunity, especially when tuition is not a factor due to the post-9/11 GI Bill. The University of Maryland also has one of the top ten part time/evening programs.

5. Disorganized administration at UDC. It is unfortunate, but the administration at UDC is highly disorganized. Many current students will admit this as a matter of course. They also have come to expect it and largely shrug it off as what to expect at a low-tuition law school. With a few exceptions, I have kept my criticisms of UDC to myself and my fellow students. It is not worth the time to list all of the issues. Just trust me on this one--it can be maddening at times (consider this--an open-ended, one credit class where the professor just randomly assigns things that were never on the original syllabus). I'd rather concentrate on my classes and not have to worry about whether the school is doing things right.

Other students choose to move on. I know of at least a half dozen students in the same boat as myself who have decided to transfer. I suspect the actual number is considerably higher. We had an incoming class of about 70 students last August. With those that are transferring and those that dropped out along the way, I will be very interested to see how many of those 70 students return next month. I wouldn't surprised to see 25% or even more who fail to return.

6. Location. From home or work to UDC, I had about a 75 minute commute (driving and Metro). On some days, I left for work before 5AM and didn't get home until 10PM. Maryland is considerably closer and will be something like a 20-30 minute commute in total. More time to spend with the family. That's always a win.

Words mean things, law school edition

Here are the requirements to join the UDC Law Review:

Membership

Students may receive offers to join the UDC Law Review staff by grading on and/or writing on.

Grading On

Students who have completed at least thirty hours of coursework and are in good standing, as defined by the UDC David A. Clarke School of Law Student Handbook, are eligible to grade on to the law review by exceeding a 3.2 GPA and receiving a “B” final grade in Lawyering Process I and II. Offers of membership to students who grade on are sent before the start of the Fall semester. Students who are eligible to grade on may also participate in the write-on competition, regardless of their expected or actual grades. No distinction is made within the Law Review staff between students who grade on and those who write on.

Writing On 

Students who are not eligible to grade on to the law review may attempt to write on. Materials for the write-on competition are posted on this page at the end of the Spring semester. Students typically have two weeks to complete the submission, which consists of a Bluebook exercise, an editing exercise, and a legal essay based on a closed-universe of cases and articles provided by the Law Review staff. The essays are graded anonymously and offers of membership to students who write on are sent before the start of the Fall semester.

To summarize, you can grade on (with a GPA requirement, a Lawyering Process grade requirement, and a 30 credit hour requirement); or you can write on ("Students who are not eligible to grade on").

Just to be clear, I emailed the Law Review back in April:

Will part-time 1L's be eligible to grade on to law review?

The answer:

If you have completed LP I and II then you will be eligible to grade on law review as a part-time 1L, rising 2L.  Thanks for your question.

Except this isn't the case--the 30 credit hour limit applies to both grading on and writing on. I only know this because a fellow student told me he was confused about whether or not we could participate. Fortunately, I had completed only a smart part of the write on before I realized this. Yes, I did Bluebook exercises that I didn't have to do.

On top of that, members of the Law Review made several announcements in our part-time, 1L classes (in which almost no one has yet met the 30 credit hour requirement).

Lesson learned, especially for those studying to be lawyers: Words mean things!

UDC's Moot Court Room