Ryan Moore '25
Historian
The University of Virginia School of Law is a prolific fundraiser. Our endowment sits at $831.4 million as of June 30, 2023.[1] On February 27, the Law School announced that it had reached its $400 million funding goal fifteen months ahead of schedule.[2] This represents “the third-largest total in the history of any law school.”[3] Because this fundraising ultimately returns to benefit the student body, every law student is thankful to the 16,000 donors and alumni who made this possible.
But it sometimes seems that not all students are benefited equally. Throughout the last year, public interest students have expressed frustration and disappointment with a perceived lack of support by the Law School and administration. This lack of financial support is acutely felt by public interest students during their summers, where positions are often unpaid or paid significantly less than private firm summer associate positions. To learn more, I talked with several public interest students, including LPS co-president Delaney Tubbs ’25, about public interest summer funding, communication with school administration, and what all of us can do to help.
On February 23, public interest students (and private firm students in solidarity) sent a letter about recent changes made to the structure of summer funding at the Law School to Dean Risa Goluboff, incoming Dean Leslie Kendrick, and the Law School Foundation.[4] Public interest students laid out a timeline that underscores a lack of communication and support from school administration.
On November 28, 2023, the school announced that they were increasing the Public Service Summer Grant (PSSG) funding for public interest students from $4,000 to $5,000 for 1Ls and $7,000 to $8,000 for 2Ls. While still significantly less than the tens of thousands of dollars students can make in summer associate positions, any increase in public interest funding is appreciated.
However, by early 2024, word spread that the School planned to remove alumni summer fellowship opportunities, which provided an additional source of funding for public interest students. The fellowship previously supported a significant number of public interest 2Ls, nearly 25% of whom received supplemental funding in amounts up to $10,000. Instead, public interest students can still apply for alumni fellowships and grants but will no longer receive additional funding beyond the base PSSG amounts.
The official change to alumni summer funding was not announced until February 5, 2024, after many students had already made summer plans and committed to work in high cost of living cities where vulnerable populations are in need of support. While alumni fellowships are not guaranteed, public interest students have a higher chance of receiving additional school funding than funding from large, national public interest support organizations. To me and many public interest students, the changes to alumni funding feel like a loss of resources for public interest students.
Much like Justice Stephen Breyer, when I am forced to make a hard decision, I often resort to a balancing test.[5] On the one hand, we have the costs to the University of additional funding. On the other, the quality of life of public interest students. Inadequate summer funding affects public interest students during the school year as they must make their budgets stretch to cover their summer jobs. The cost to the university for increasing summer grants is essentially negligible. Only thirty-one out of 315 students in the Class of 2025 did not partake in OGI last summer. For the Class of 2024, only thirty out of 300 received a PSSG. There may very well be financial constraints that make additional levels of support unfeasible, but given the imbalance between the needs of public interest students and the costs to the University, we are all owed an explanation.
What we can do to help
One of the many features I like about UVA Law is that private firm students step up to support our public interest colleagues. Whether it is the annual PILA auction, which raises thousands of dollars in supplemental summer funding, or just buying your public interest friends a drink at Bar Review, everyone recognizes the necessary work public interest students do. I am heartened that many students going to private firms this summer signed the open letter in support of our public interest colleagues.
I also believe that SBA has a responsibility to explicitly platform the needs and concerns of public interest students. SBA has the ear of school administration in a way that other student organizations do not, including weekly meetings with school officials. I was surprised that after the letter issued by public interest students, SBA had not reached out to offer support. Shortly after this article goes to press, public interest student representatives plan to meet with school administration to discuss their concerns. It would be great if SBA leadership could throw their weight behind this effort.
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mgt6bs@virginia.edu