So I’ve been accepted into the following schools: UCLA, UC Berkley. I am currently waiting on UW Seattle.
My EFC is 0. UCLA wants me to pay $34,000 per year and UC Berkley wants me to pay $30,000 per year. If I get into UW Seattle, I anticipate having to pay only a nominal fee because of my state’s generosity for low-income students.
BUT, I don’t really want to go to UW Seattle…The campus is beautiful, the academics are top of the line…but I want to go to California. I need the sun!
Here’s the thing: my amazing mentor says if I decide on California, he will pay $20,000 over two years (he’s loaded so I have no doubt of it…) But still, that will leave me with a $10,000 gap for Berkley which I could cover with loans, and I’ll be graduating with something around 20K debt. Immediately after UG, I want to go to law school.
Would it be silly for me to go to Berkley instead of UW? I am choosing Berkley because of it’s international prestige and strong history department. Please give me some advice.
@ bodangles, yes i will be paying for law school too. I anticipate a minimum of $150,000 in debt for LS. I am setting myself up now to be admitted to a LS w/ good placement in large law firms that would give me a salary that will make LS debt manageable.
If you are asking if taking out loans for undergrad when you have a no loan option is a good idea, the answer is no. If you are stating that in SEVEN years you’ll be working in a top law firm making enough to pay those $1500/mo student loan payments, I think you are dreaming. No one can know that will happen. What if you get a judicial clerkship offer that pays significantly less than you need to make big loan payments? What if something happens that makes law school not an option? What about undergrad years 3 and 4? Who is going to be your mentor for those?
Go to UW Seattle. You have to follow the money, especially if you’re planning on law school. Unfortunately, when you’re low income, you can’t afford to let shallow reasons lead you to a school (ie: sunshine, even prestige). You go to the school that costs you the least money and thus sets you up for the best possible long term success (debt is an opportunity crusher). The worst possible thing someone low income can do is take on tons of school loan debt–with UG + law school, you’d be paying off loans for 20-30 years. Your debt guides all your life choices, from where you live, to what jobs you take, to whether you can buy a home (I don’t know anyone who can, myself included), to whether you can afford to get married & have kids. I know a lot of people pin their hopes on an expensive graduate degree that will guarantee a high salary down the road, but that is simply not a wise investment in the current job climate. I know as many unemployed lawyers as employed (who went to top 20 schools and everything), and several of the employed ones are severely underpaid. As in, making 60-70K instead of 120K (which is what they would have been paid 10 years ago in a better market). Imagine working 80 hours weeks, 6-7 days a week, for a salary 40-50K under market value… in a city where the money doesn’t go very far (Los Angeles). It’s not exactly living the dream! You can’t afford $1,000+ loan repayments on a salary like that, especially not in a big city (where a lot of the best job opportunities exist).
Law schools don’t care where you did UG, as long as you have a good GPA and you ace your LSATs. Follow the money (the least amount, that is), and focus on being a lock for top law school admissions. And you should ask that mentor of your to bank his promise for when you get into law school
I might be reading this wrong, but if Berkeley will cost you $30000 each year and your mentor is contributing $20,000 over two years then that leaves you $40,000 short. Is he pitching in $20,000 each year or $20,000 in total?
Additionally, I’m assuming that your gap is after federal Stafford loans and Pell grants, right?
Whine here, but you have to go where your money will stretch. UW Seattle sounds like the right place. Get over ‘other options’ and build up the wonderful opportunities - do your best and take advantage of the opportunities available there. After you finish school you can live where you want. Everyone has to delay rewards at some point in their lives. It will be sweet when it is the right time.
If you were going to go to work straight after graduation, maybe a little debt would be OK. But in this situation no because:
UW is a great school with excellent academics
GPA is critical for getting into an excellent law school and Berkeley does not practice grade inflation. My son goes to Berkeley and the first C he ever got in school is from a class he took his freshman year. The hyper-competitiveness on the campus makes getting a high GPA very difficult.
Keep you debt down as much as possible - it’s nice of your mentor to make the offer, but sadly circumstances change and if the offer did not hold up you would be taking on even more debt.
Looking forward - maybe you will get into Boalt! But as someone above noted, the weather is not the sunny days of SoCal that I think you are picturing.
Berkeley is a horrible option for a low income, out of state student. Even with the “amazing” mentor, the OP would be forced to pay $100,000 over the course of all 4 years. OP, does that number include room and board? You have to pay for that as well. Stay in Seattle. If you must, find a way to transfer to a school that meets full need.
Do NOT count on anyone paying $20k. Even if mentor is the greatest guy, so many things could go wrong and you would be left in the cold. We advise people not to even rely on grandparents who say they will “help.” Lots of older (parent age) people do not know how much college costs now, the mentor could get divorced or married, or get sick. If you don’t like this advice (which I expect) would you be comfortable asking him to put it in writing? Or put it in a 529 or something with you as beneficiary? IF not, your relationship isn’t as strong as you think it is.
I’m a lawyer and I know several young lawyers who were externs for me that can’t pay their loans. Follow the money.
Agree with TempeMom, you are making a lot of unsupported assumptions about your future, from this Mentor paying that $20K to landing, liking and keeping a high paying, big firm law job. The market is crushed with an oversupply of attorneys, especially ones whose only qualification is graduating from law school (by that I mean no other degree in a useful technical field, etc, or valued work experience). You will be a very disposable number to any large law firm, and if there is a tightening in the economy you can easily get tossed overboard, while your loans are crushing you. I work with a lot of young lawyers who struggle like crazy to make their loan payments that are higher than my mortgage payment. Take the cheapest route possible, it will give you tons more flexibility later to live and work wherever you want.
I asked for your thoughts and I have received them. Thank you. You all made some very important, pertinent observations that I may have …swept under the rug in the excitement of youth, haha.
