<p>Hello all, I am a frequent visitor of the site but this is the first time I have posted.</p>
<p>I also follow LawSchoolDiscussion.org but find the people there to be very hostile... </p>
<p>My situation involves paying for law school. I am currently a rising junior in college, I go to a private university and am paying a lot for the school. I am enrolled in the school's business program and had planned on pursuing a career in business, but law has always been an interest of mine. I am taking out about 25K in loans a year with my parents paying the other 20K. Long story short, I will be around 100K in debt at the conclusion of undergrad. My parents say they plan on helping me pay down any loans I have from undergrad and grad school regardless of what I choose to do. </p>
<p>Law school is expensive, so what is everyone's advice? Should I work for several years after undergrad before entering law school to pay down some undergrad loans? Is it even worth it to go to law school to pay that much money for that as well as undergrad and risk not getting BigLaw? Assuming I receive a scholarship to a lower ranked school would it make more sense to take that money than a higher ranked school? </p>
<p>Recap: 3.7 GPA, lot of EC's about 100K in debt after undergrad, will have to take out loans for law school but parents are willing to help. Is my desire to practice law worth taking on an enormous amount of debt? Thanks!</p>
<p>I went the complete opposite way. I went to the community college here in the honor’s program, did very well (just graduated with a 3.9) and was sent letters to apply from colleges I never dreamed I could attend (Cornell, NYU, U of Maryland, U of Pitts,etc.). I got inot NYU and U of Maryland and was rejected from Cornell but I am attending SUNY Stony Brook so I am NOT putting myself heavily into debt before law school. My parents are paying everything now and I am sure law school will put me in debt with loans. Have you looked at the tuition for some of those higher law schools??? Right now in 2009 some are upwards of $65,000 PER YEAR and I have another 2 years before I am applying- which means the price will no doubt be even higher. I don’t want to come out of school with hundreds of thousands of dollars owed- what would I be working for? It would takes years to pay all that back. I really don’t know what you should do but if you REALLY want to be a lawyer you WILL. Just make sure you get into a top law school so you come out making a lot of money to pay off your loans quick!!! GOOD LUCK, though!</p>
<p>Since you are talking about “enormous debt” it is really two separate issues. IMO, $100k of personal debt for undergrad is beyond foolish. Even if your parents intend to “help,” there is no guarantee that they won’t contract a serious illness, get laid off, etc. They may not be able to help in the future.</p>
<p>wrt law school debt: it depends. A top law school probably is worth it for most (there’s a reason why the Supreme Court justices seem to come from one or two law schools). But in your case, the additional debt is a HUGE factor. You might consider dropping down the law school food chain and attending a LS where you can recieve some merit aid.</p>
<p>I would also give serious thought to the state of the legal job market before you choose to attend law school. There are MANY unemployed and underemployed law school graduates. The only thing worse than being unemployed or underemployed is being either AND having a lot of educational debt. Competition for good jobs in the law is fierce and many associates in big law find that the money is not sufficient compensation for very long hours, mind numbing work and having no personal life. Think hard about it.</p>
<p>I am a foolish one then. I believe we have already paid more than $100k for my child’s college education. Although most students at my child’s school never talk about their financial situation like how much aids they receive from school, I believe a lot of parents pay more than $100k for their children’s education. As regard to how wealthy we are, I believe my family is likely in the bottom 1/3 of his class. Many other students must receive even less financial aids than my child.</p>
<p>Please re-read. The OP said that s/he personally would have debt of $100k upon graduation. That is completely different than any parent that wants to shell out the cash. </p>
<p>fwiw: IMO, no undergrad should incur more than ~$25k total over four years.</p>
<p>Yea, I did not read carefully. OP’s parents appear to shell out 20k/year times 4 years = 80k for four years.</p>
<p>One colleague of mine actually discussed with me about the pros and cons of having his child getting a loan. He considered this more along the line of “cash flow”/risk management. Even though he could pay, say, 80k, out of his pocket, he chose not to. He would rather pay some interests but maintain some “safe” level of liquidable assets in case of emergency.</p>
<p>Some of my friends actually told me that it is not financially sound to pay such huge amount of money just for an undergraduate degree. Guess what, I actually agree with them. But sometimes parents are just willing to do something for their child, financially sound or not – as long as they themselves will likely not starve or become a burden of their child later on.</p>
<p>I agree with you that if the family really can not afford it, it is foolish to do so.</p>
<p>To assume that those loans are only for the family’s cash flow purposes (story about your friend) is assuming facts not in evidence. </p>
<p>The OP could have written, “I’m taking out loans now, but my parents will pay them off” but did not. Instead, the OP asked about “enormous” debt. Adding ~$190k of law school loans on top of $100k in undergrad debt is beyond foolish.</p>
I can not but believe (well…as a good lawyer, you may say: "Objection, your honor. Pure speculation here ;-)) that there is a pretty high probability that his/her parents may have the financial resources to support him/her and they seem to be willing to do so as long as OP requests it.</p>
<p>I think it is likely from OP’s point of view, he still has some doubt about whether it is worth it or not and he asks for suggestions here. But from his parent’s view, there is some other factor that may not be purely based on objective reasoning. This is what I was trying to say, but it might not come out in that way unfortunately.</p>
<p>My parents do have the resources to help (to an extent), both are successful professionals but given the recent economic events, money has become tighter… I do not have direct goals to work in BigLaw and become a rich corporate lawyer, a small firm/ private practice would be fit me just fine, but if the BigLaw opportunity does appear I would take it. Is that really a risk to take?</p>
<p>Small private firms will not pay anywhere close to biglaw salaries especially considering the law market the way it is right now. If you incur 160K+ law school debt, consider that it might be incredibly challenging repaying that loan on top of your undergrad debt.</p>
<p>A handful of law schools (mostly the top ones) have LRAP programs or are generous with scholarships if you express interest in studying and working in public interest law. Loan Repayment Assistance Programs forgive some or all of your debt if you work in public interest law for a minimum of so many years(and generally make under 55K). Have you considered that as an option?</p>
<p>If you have a large amount of student loans upon graduation from law school, your job choices will be limited to either BIGLAW (long and unpredictable hours, low level of work/life balance) or public interest work (if your law school has loan forgiveness programs with which you will comply throughout the necessary period of time – not always so easy to do, particularly when the income of a future spouse will be taken into account). To the extent that you already have $100k of undergraduate student debt, you would likely have no choice to try to find a job in BIGLAW, since you would have a tough time paying off the undergraduate loans on a public interest salary, regardless of any level of law school loan forgiveness. </p>
<p>If you need to find a BIGLAW job in order to make ends meet, I would suggest that you make sure to attend a T14 law school (or one of the other handful of schools with excellent placement records at BIGLAW) and keep your fingers crossed that the economy starts to look up so that more BIGLAW firms will hire more associates.</p>
<p>Wow, what intelligent and helpful info!!! I feel SO much better with the choice I made to stay out of debt for my BA degree and to take on as much debt as I need to for my law degree after reading all these posts. I don’t want to have to turn down a good offer (if I get one!) because of money issues when it will matter where I went to law school more than where I earned my BA. And I don’t think going to SUNY Stony Brook is settling either, so I am really happy with my decision now! I would’ve LOVED to have gone to NYU- but not to end up with almost 100 grand of debt for the 2 years. I am very sorry but I just don’t understand people who go to “some” school for 50 grand, rack up debt and the school has no punch in the end. I applied to Cornell and was fully prepared to put myself into debt for THAT BA degree!! Unfortunately that didn’t work out, but on I move!!!</p>
<p>A newbie question here: Is NYU law school a prestigious law school then? How difficult is it to get into NYU law school, GPA-wise and LSAT-wise? Is NYU a top 5 law school? a T14 school? Thanks!</p>
<p>I was accepted to NYU undergraduate school, not the law school. Wanted to clear up any confusion!! I know NYU law is ranked # 5 in the US right now. Given that, I am sure it is murder to get in!!!</p>
<p>One of my child’s friends got into NYU law this year. He is very good, in academic as well as in ECs. Do not know his LSAT score though.</p>
<p>Two years ago, one person my child knows got into HLS. He had very good ECs (an officer of a club for a year), very good LSAT, but likely not astonishing GPA.</p>