March 6, 2006
Late Registration
Looks like the UC Registrar's going to have to cut some refund checks -- $33.8 million worth!
A San Francisco court has ruled that the UC's fee hikes for professional students were illegal, because the UC had previously promised those students that their fees wouldn't be increased and then went ahead and increased 'em anyways. An angry UC Berkeley Boalt Hall law student then filed suit in 2003 for breach of contract.
Plaintiff Mo Kashmiri was forced to drop out his third year of law school because he couldn't afford the higher tuition -- and then agreed to be the lead plaintiff in the class-action law suit filed. Don't mess with law students! Kashmiri later scraped up the money to finish law school, and is now a licensed attorney.
Judge Warren (of the dog-maul trial) ruled that the UC did indeed breach its contract with its students: "The terms of this promise were not vague or indefinite. A reasonable person would be entitled to rely on the university's representation that the professional-degree fee would remain the same throughout his or her enrollment."
|
so should UC Berkeley see some silver lining in this, seeing as how they train their students well enough to defeat them? wait, this is the whole "the apprentice becomes the master" bit i've seen in movies. ah, beautiful circle of life.
How can you find out if you are entitled to any cash? Where do you sign up?
Hi Pete -- well, it looks like no money's getting paid out for a year or two, because the UC has said it's going to appeal. If the students win on appeal, this lawsuit covers all students enrolled in professional schools in the UC system as of 12/15/02. A separate suit's been filed for students enrolled as of 2003, but it looks like no decision's come down in that one as of yet.