As finals are just around the cor¬ner, we’re sure many of you have started to print your life-saving outlines. But like us, you’re no¬ticing that the dollar sign in the bottom right portion of the toolbar is dwindling faster than the economy. This is a large shock for veterans because printing was unlimited last year. While two years ago printing was restricted, the adminis¬tration saw fit to provide students with a sufficient supply to at least complete 1L research and writing assignments. The little ‘300’ none of us have seen since the last week in August hasn’t gone that far. As 1Ls have probably run out of pages this semester, the breakdown that follows will assure them that they will be short in the Spring as well.
Let’s start with Legal Research: it is essential to have a printout of the assignment when you’re knee-deep in pocket-parts, so we have included in the first number the amount of pages it would take to print out each assignment. Also, answers must be double-spaced, typed, and with a heading and honor code so the second number reflects how many pages are needed to properly complete each assignment. Based on a recollection of our 1L year (and some help from CourseVU), the number of pages you will use will look something like this:
Comprehensive Review: 6/4
Lexis: 3/3
Westlaw: 3/3
Online legislation: 3/2
Practice materials: 3/2
Internet assignment: 3/3
Non-legal materials: 3/3
Practical Exam Answer: 1
Total: 45 pages
On to Legal Writing: the following numbers are based on the assignments from Professor Stuart’s Legal Writing section for our Spring 1L semester.
Annotated outlines: 7
Trial court brief: 16 x 2 copies [one draft]
Draft for Appellate Brief: 25
Appellate Brief: 30 x 6 copies
With the appellate brief, we were required to provide one to the pro¬fessor, one to the opponent, three to the judges, and one for our¬selves for the oral argument (we were also encouraged to make ex¬tra bound copies to use as writing samples for interviews).
2 Oral argument outlines: 5 each
Case comment: 14
Total: 268
As you can see, the printing pages needed for only the 1L Spring semester research and writing are over 300 (313 to be exact). This number also only in¬cludes pages needed for 3 of 15 credits. In fact, it doesn’t even include print¬ing an outline for the Legal Research final exam! While this years’ 1L class is given about 50 more prints than the 2Ls and 3Ls because of Legal Research and Legal Writing, it’s still cutting a little too close for comfort, and outlines will put even the most miserly of print¬ers over.
The administration would most likely respond that we should have made copies of the Appellate Brief rather than using printing pages, but both the school and commercial establishments like Kinkos, Office Depot, and Staples charge for copies. So basically, if you want to complete your assignments, not to mention have outlines or old exams from which to study, you must spend more money while at the same time watching the administration raise tuition. Even if the cost is only one nickel per page, students have enough expenses in housing, food, transporta¬tion, and the occasional movie with¬out breaking the piggy bank to pay for school-required assignments. It seems that $32,500 doesn’t buy as much as it used to.
Jeff and Amy are 3Ls and can be reached at forum@valpo.edu
|
|
Entries (RSS)