Beginning fall 2011, a new, expanded student legal services program at Ohio State will provide students with legal advice and representation.
However, even if students do not use the new services, they will be charged a fee unless they choose to opt out of the service altogether.
Although it has been approved that OSU students will have the option to pay an annual fee of $40 to receive the services, the specifics about the cost and how exactly the fee will be assessed to students has not been finalized, said Nicole Hall, director of the OSU Student Housing Legal Clinic.
The program will provide guidance about issues including criminal misdemeanors, consumer transactions, uncontested domestic matters, conversion of property and simple document drafting.
The program will not oversee issues involving felonies, students vs. student matters, actions between students and the university, or actions between students and law enforcement officers, according to state law.
Other Ohio universities have similar opt-out legal services programs. Bowling Green State University charges $7 per semester, Kent State University charges $9 per semester and Wright State University charges $8 per quarter.
The difference between OSU’s program and other Ohio universities is that OSU students are covered throughout the summer, even if they are not taking classes.
There are numerous factors that go into the cost of the program. OSU’s program is more expensive than others because the staff of the program will be larger. Also, costs will be higher because of OSU’s size.
“Due to being located in a large city, there are higher rent and incidental charges than other programs have where they are located,” Hall said.
OSU was legally required to make the program an optional cost for students because of a state law.
The law says that in any college or university legal services plan, students are not required to pay any fee or charge unless they participate in the plan.
Seeing the success of other Ohio schools with similar programs, OSU officials thought using an opt-out fee would be the best method to provide services to students, Hall said.
The program will resemble OSU’s student health insurance, although many details of the legal service’s opt-out system are still in the works.
“The model for student health insurance seems to be tremendously successful, and I imagine this opt-out system would be similar,” said Micah Kamrass, president of Undergraduate Student Government.
The new program will have an annual budget of about $1 million to $1.5 million. To cover costs, there will need to be a 55 percent acceptance rate among students.
For the 2009-2010 school year, only 24.3 percent of enrolled students at OSU purchased the Comprehensive Student Health Insurance Plan. Another 6 percent purchased the WilceCare supplement plan.
The legal services program and student health insurance, both opt-out programs, are similar in that the university is offering a service that could be otherwise purchased on the private market, said Peter Koltak, former USG president who helped implement the new program.
“In the case of legal services, it will be much cheaper than hiring a private attorney,” he said.
If OSU does not meet this acceptance rate, “alternate scenarios would be made at the time it is determined that we have a lower than expected participation rate,” Hall said.
The cost of the program will help cover more than six attorneys and three other full-time positions at the clinic.
Kent State, Wright State and Bowling Green only have about two attorneys.
Kent State has an 88 percent participation rate for legal services, and Wright State has 77 percent participation.
Some students say the opt-out fee will be an annoyance.
“I don’t want to be charged for something I don’t use,” said Brent Miller, a third-year in mechanical engineering. “I already have to opt out of student health insurance, and this will be another thing on my plate I will have to remember to do.”
However, according to surveys conducted during the 2008-2009 school year by USG, the Student Housing Legal Clinic and the Office of Student Life, students and parents show a 95 percent level of interest and a willingness to pay fees ranging from $5 to $12.
Students who choose to pay the fee will have access to the legal services from the date of the payment until the day before the start of classes the following Autumn Quarter.
Students who initially opt out of the fee before Autumn Quarter can opt back in during any other quarters.
Because the new program was just approved by the Board of Trustees on May 14, there is still a year of planning that will take place, Koltak said.
“The program will be beneficial to students in a similar way that health insurance is beneficial,” said Jason Marion, former president of the Council of Graduate Students, who helped support the program. “Students will have greater services and quicker response times for possible legal problems that could arise.”
