<p>I'm a rising college sophomore considering law school. My family is very low income and I am interested in attending law school right after college. So my question is will my low income background will prevent me from obtaining the loans? I have heard that students co-signers for their loans. Is this really the case? And if it is will it keep me from getting loans?</p>
<p>Coming from a low-income family will not keep you out of law school. You may actually come out ahead of the pack, if you get some of the--relatively rare--need-based grants schools offer.</p>
<p>Students do not necessarily need co-signers for their law school loans. I am a rising 3L and I don't have a co-signer (and believe me, I needed lots of loans!). However, I had very good credit. If you do not (ie, if you have significant credit cards debt, if you've made late payments, etc.) you might have more trouble and using the next few years to clean up your credit report would probably be a good idea. You might also have a higher interest rate without a co-signer...I pay about 1% more, but I didn't really have a choice. Shopping around is worthwhile because rates really vary among lenders.</p>
<p>If you don't have a credit history for law school lenders to evaluate, you might consider getting a credit card...this is only a good idea, though, if you trust yourself to be responsible with it and pay it off on time EVERY MONTH. Otherwise, it'll cause more harm than good.</p>
<p>Good luck!</p>