Nearly half of the gift, $35-million, has been earmarked for student support, according to the university.Carlos Osorio/The Globe and Mail
The University of Toronto received the largest donation ever made to a Canadian law school, a gift of $80-million, much of it destined to provide financial support to students.
The donation, which law dean Jutta Brunnée called “transformational,” comes from former Ontario lieutenant-governor Hal Jackman. The school will be renamed the Henry N.R. Jackman Faculty of Law.
Nearly half of the gift, $35-million, has been earmarked for student support, according to the university. The Jackman Scholarship Fund of $25-million will boost the amount available to students for financial aid, bursaries and scholarships. And $10-million will go to a new program designed to train lawyers for leadership roles.
“The word transformational is used a lot, but I think in this case it really applies. It will allow us to vault ahead in so many areas of academic priority,” Prof. Brunnée said. “This gift will allow us to quite significantly expand our already considerable financial aid program. … The goal is to make sure that no eligible student declines an offer of admission due to insufficient financial resources.”
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Mr. Jackman said the focus on financial aid was to ensure the gift would help attract “the brightest and most promising students from every conceivable background, regardless of their financial means.”
Mr. Jackman, born in 1932, is a graduate of Victoria College at U of T who went on to study law at the university before a prominent career in business, starting at companies controlled by his family and later becoming lieutenant-governor of Ontario and chancellor of U of T. On its website, the university said his earlier gifts to the institution exceed $56-million, with the study of the humanities prominent among the causes he has championed. He has also previously made gifts of about $20-million to the law school.
Mr. Jackman said that seeing the family name tied to the school is an incredible honour.
“I learnt from my parents and grandparents that when you’re in a position to make a difference – to strengthen institutions, to open doors for others – you ought to do it. U of T has shaped my family for generations. By giving back, we can honour that legacy while helping to ensure that the university continues to thrive,” he said in an e-mail.
Henry Newton Rowell (Hal) Jackman on his first day sitting as Ontario’s lieutenant governor in 1991.Bill Becker/The Canadian Press
Prof. Brunnée said the financial aid program has become a point of attraction for students. Over the past three years, students have been polled about their reasons for choosing U of T law, and in each year the financial aid program has been among the top reasons they cite.
This year, tuition at the law school is $33,040 for an Ontario student in the JD program and $39,380 for an out-of-province student, making it one of the priciest schools in the country. In the past, students have argued that such high tuition rates put pressure on them to choose lucrative jobs on Bay Street when they complete their studies. Prof. Brunnée said improved financial aid should help head off that potential scenario.
The university says 42.6 per cent of its Canadian Juris Doctor law students receive some financial aid, with those assessed as having greater need receiving relatively more money. The average student aid package nearly doubled over the past several years, from a little more than $11,000 in 2019 to $21,290 in 2024, according to the school.
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Romina Hajizadeh, a second-year law student from British Columbia whose family came to Canada as immigrants, said it was her dream to go to U of T, but the sticker price for tuition was about $20,000 a year higher than in her home province. When she looked at the financial aid package she could receive in Toronto, however, the prices were actually similar, she said.
“Cost is a big barrier for a lot of students, and so knowing that I had access to financial aid based on need was a very big deal and, honestly, life changing,” Ms. Hajizadeh said.
Stephen Toope, president of the Canadian Institute for Advanced Research and a former university president, said a gift of this magnitude makes a huge difference to an institution.
“The scale of this gift is such that it will enable, over time, hundreds of students to be supported, and that is really a dramatic change for legal education in Canada, not just for U of T,” Dr. Toope said.
Of the $45-million not destined for student support, a portion will fund such things as the Future of Law Lab, which a donation from Mr. Jackman helped create in 2020, and a Dean’s Strategic Initiatives Fund. It will also also establish four new chairs, including one in international law and another in legal theory, both of which will be named for Mr. Jackman’s grandfather, Newton Rowell.