According to a new post over at Inside Higher Ed, administrators at UC-San Diego are touting the possible merger between the school and Cal Wastern Law as "cost neutral" to taxpayers.
“There are no professional schools in the University of California that do not rely on state funding, and we’re saying this will not rely at all on state funding,” said Paul Drake, senior vice chancellor for academic affairs at San Diego.
In an email to me today, Drake had this to say about how the merger could be "cost neutral":
"The merger would essentially maintain the current stand-alone funding model of CWSL, which basically relies on student tuition to cover the vast majority of its costs. There are no significant startup or building costs because CWSL and its faculty already exist. Hence UCSD would not have to invest any of its own or state monies in the operation, as we would if we were starting a law school from scratch."
UCSD and Cal Western have teaching and research relationships that go back several years. Vice Chancellor Drake told Inside Higher Ed that he expects the merger proposal to go before the UC Board of Regents during the 2010-2011 academic year. I still say don't hold your breath.
— Cynthia Foster
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