Becoming a lawyer just got more expensive.

Last week, the licensing fee in Ontario for third-year law students jumped to $4,300 from $2,400 in 2013, to help fund the new Law Practice Program (LPP) — triggering a strong, invariably negative, reaction from students and legal professionals.

After approving the LPP last fall, the Law Society of Upper Canada said it would need to raise licensing fees to pay for the new program. Most students, however, didn’t learn about the fee hike until last week, when LSUC officially billed them for the upcoming licensing process.

While Ontario lawyers will see their annual dues rise by around $25 this year to help finance the LPP, critics still insist it’s unfair for lion’s share of the LPP to be funded on the backs of students.

“You would think that since the legal community cannot provide enough articling spots, we would share that pain across the profession,” says Suzan Fraser, a Toronto lawyer, who’s been vocal about the issue on social media.

The law society, she explains, could cover almost the entire cost of the LPP by increasing annual lawyer dues by about an additional $100. “It’s a drop in the bucket for most lawyers, but it’s a huge hit for students that are graduating with huge debt loads.”

Those debt loads also “create a disincentive for young lawyers to do access-to-justice work,” says Adam Dodek, a law professor at the University of Ottawa.

This is a major concern for students as well, says Philip Cumbo, president of the Students’ Law Society at Windsor Law.

“In rural areas in Ontario, there either aren’t lawyers, or lawyers are retiring, so they need young lawyers, but those jobs don’t pay like jobs in major cities,” he says. “Adding to student debt really dissuades people from going to work in smaller communities where there might be an articling position, but it also might pay half the salary, or a third, of what you would get paid in Toronto. And then the debt doesn’t go away.”

Fraser says that higher licensing fees, which contribute to student debt that often soars into the six figures, force students to choose between “doing work that serves the community” or “keeping their debt at bay.”

Opposition to the fee increase continues to come from both students and lawyers, says Chris Rudnicki, a third-year student at Windsor Law, who launched an online petition against the higher fees. “Usually, there’s a lot of diversity of thought on these issues. But on this particular issue, it’s unanimous. Everyone thinks it’s unfair. Everyone thinks that this needs to change.”

Responding to the recent criticism, a Law Society spokesperson wrote in an email, “We are aware of the petition being circulated, and we have seen the reaction on social media.”

So far, though, there is no indication that LSUC will re-visit the fee increase, though it is exploring the possibility of a bursary program for future years.