In Financial Hell at Chosen Law School Forum

Discuss various money matters here. Loans (federal and private), scholarships, lottery winnings, or other school finance related information and queries.
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OzymandiastheWindhov

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In Financial Hell at Chosen Law School

Post by OzymandiastheWindhov » Wed Jul 11, 2018 10:52 pm

Hey TLS, I was awarded a merit scholarship that covers the full tuition of my law school, but the school itself is in a different state, and I was under the assumption that all of my outside expenses (apartment, books, board, etc. ) would be covered by a GradPlus + Fed Direct Loan sent to the school and refunded to me.

I called up the school itself, and aside from their financial aid department being slow to respond, I was told that the timeline for refunds may actually fall sometime into the beginning of the semester. I remember seeing a thread that mentioned that some law schools themselves give out loans, until the financial aid refund is processed and COL calculated. I'm coming off of an Americorps program and don't have any money on hand to spend $1.5k on an apartment another $800 on books waiting on my school. Has anyone dealt with a problem like this?

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265489164158

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Re: In Financial Hell at Chosen Law School

Post by 265489164158 » Tue Aug 07, 2018 6:56 pm

At our school, financial aid disburses the Friday before class starts. Many people put off buying books until after that. As for moving expenses, try to get a short-term loan?

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Pneumonia

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Re: In Financial Hell at Chosen Law School

Post by Pneumonia » Wed Aug 08, 2018 8:01 am

OzymandiastheWindhov wrote:Hey TLS, I was awarded a merit scholarship that covers the full tuition of my law school, but the school itself is in a different state, and I was under the assumption that all of my outside expenses (apartment, books, board, etc. ) would be covered by a GradPlus + Fed Direct Loan sent to the school and refunded to me.

I called up the school itself, and aside from their financial aid department being slow to respond, I was told that the timeline for refunds may actually fall sometime into the beginning of the semester. I remember seeing a thread that mentioned that some law schools themselves give out loans, until the financial aid refund is processed and COL calculated. I'm coming off of an Americorps program and don't have any money on hand to spend $1.5k on an apartment another $800 on books waiting on my school. Has anyone dealt with a problem like this?
This is a common problem among a relatively small group of law school students, that is, those without access to parental support. I lived on a friend's couch for the first several weeks of school while I was waiting for loans to disburse so that I could get an apartment. I bought books on a credit card. Reach out to financial aid and tell them your situation. Be clear: "the late disbursement date is more than an inconvenience or a surprise; it is something that could literally keep me from matriculating." Hopefully they will be able to set something up. My school now has university loans that disburse early against your predicted GradPlus. Maybe yours has (or will create) something similar. Good luck!

Also, depending on your region, you may be on the hook for quite a bit more than 1,500 to get into an apartment. In bigger cities you're looking at 4x monthly rent, minimum: first month, last month, deposit, broker fee. Where are you headed?

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