NYU Class of 2017 - Basically graduated Forum

[lawschool22]

Don't forget, you don't get $160k.

In NYC you're looking at around $95k-$99k after taxes. Take out another $16k for your 401k match, $6k for medical, dental, vision. Now you're at $73k.

$250k at 7% would take 4 years to pay off if you gave all $73k to loan payments (which we know you couldn't do). If you were really frugal and could devote half your take home pay, you could do it in 9 years.

Now I'm completely ignoring PAYE. If you did that, you'd probably be paying around $22k per year in loans. But this still leaves you with $51k left to spend on everything else (transportation, rent, food, entertainment, savings, etc.).

I'm not saying any of this is a bad deal, just that if you can get to the same outcome and not have $250k hanging over your head, the HLS prestige probably isn't worth it.

[cotiger]

Does this rule only apply to CCN? I feel like it would be harder to pick Cornell full ride over HYS for big law even though Cornell places well in NYC.

I had a young law professor from Ohio State visit my undergrad last fall. He attended SLS, clerked for the supremes, then did some lit work in dc before transitioning into academia. He said T6 > any other T14 at any price. I said, "really? what about full-ride penn or uva?" Reply: "T6. The job placement is just different." Kind of hard for me to believe at the time. Still hard for me to believe.

But is the $ it costs to attend HYS at sticker really that much over a career? At starting 160k, it seems that the debt wouldn't be horrendous to pay back, and you have added job security/opportunities that you wouldn't have at the lower t14.

Well if you took it all out in loans you'd probably have about 300k of debt, so I guess if you were doing biglaw and getting 160k and being frugal you could pay it off in 3-5 years... but not everyone makes that right out of school. Also think about opportunity cost... 160k a year with no debt sounds pretty nice

Just a heads up - paying off 300k in loans at 6-7 percent interest on a NYC biglaw salary (about 96k a year after taxes and before bonus) in anything close to 3 years is not possible. When you also consider how draining NYC biglaw is, I think that's a pretty unappealing situation.

Yeah, even if you're applying basically all of your discretionary income to paying off loans, it would take five years to get to a zero net worth.

[cotiger]

Don't forget, you don't get $160k.

In NYC you're looking at around $95k-$99k after taxes. Take out another $16k for your 401k match, $6k for medical, dental, vision. Now you're at $73k.

$250k at 7% would take 4 years to pay off if you gave all $73k to loan payments (which we know you couldn't do). If you were really frugal and could devote half your take home pay, you could do it in 9 years.

Now I'm completely ignoring PAYE. If you did that, you'd probably be paying around $22k per year in loans. But this still leaves you with $51k left to spend on everything else (transportation, rent, food, entertainment, savings, etc.).

I'm not saying any of this is a bad deal, just that if you can get to the same outcome and not have $250k hanging over your head, the HLS prestige probably isn't worth it.

Pay does increase, though, and there are bonuses. It wouldn't take nine, but it's still much longer than I would consider acceptable.

[paglababa]

Dang stop posting sad things A pre-law school 40-50 hr week, 90k income with 0 debt is starting to look better and better....

[cotiger]

Dang stop posting sad things A pre-law school 40-50 hr week, 90k income with 0 debt is starting to look better and better....

Did that ever look not awesome? Lol

[paglababa]

Dang stop posting sad things A pre-law school 40-50 hr week, 90k income with 0 debt is starting to look better and better....

Did that ever look not awesome? Lol

lol so why go to LS for 3 years? am i right?

[NYstate]

Don't forget, you don't get $160k.

In NYC you're looking at around $95k-$99k after taxes. Take out another $16k for your 401k match, $6k for medical, dental, vision. Now you're at $73k.

$250k at 7% would take 4 years to pay off if you gave all $73k to loan payments (which we know you couldn't do). If you were really frugal and could devote half your take home pay, you could do it in 9 years.

Now I'm completely ignoring PAYE. If you did that, you'd probably be paying around $22k per year in loans. But this still leaves you with $51k left to spend on everything else (transportation, rent, food, entertainment, savings, etc.).

I'm not saying any of this is a bad deal, just that if you can get to the same outcome and not have $250k hanging over your head, the HLS prestige probably isn't worth it.

FYI: big law doesn't match 401(k)

[t-14orbust]

Dang stop posting sad things A pre-law school 40-50 hr week, 90k income with 0 debt is starting to look better and better....

Did that ever look not awesome? Lol

lol so why go to LS for 3 years? am i right?

Can I has yer jerb?

[Theopliske8711]

Dang stop posting sad things A pre-law school 40-50 hr week, 90k income with 0 debt is starting to look better and better....

What in the world are you doing? At least you have savings, right? Right?

[charlie.black]

.

[paglababa]

Dang stop posting sad things A pre-law school 40-50 hr week, 90k income with 0 debt is starting to look better and better....

What in the world are you doing? At least you have savings, right? Right?

I'm hoping to get a fully still. Fingers crossed for one of the named scholarships at NYU.

And yea, the only reason I want to do big law for as minimal as a time as I possibly can is because I almost feel like it is a prerequisite to going in house, which seems so much more enjoyable.

[moopness]

This is why NYU is looking better and better for me since it has a strong PI network. Biglaw quite frankly frightens the shit out of me, especially when you have 300k in debt. Being miserable 24/7 due to the big law workload, and having most of your discretionary income going towards loan repayment...sounds pretty bad.

[lawschool22]

Don't forget, you don't get $160k.

In NYC you're looking at around $95k-$99k after taxes. Take out another $16k for your 401k match, $6k for medical, dental, vision. Now you're at $73k.

$250k at 7% would take 4 years to pay off if you gave all $73k to loan payments (which we know you couldn't do). If you were really frugal and could devote half your take home pay, you could do it in 9 years.

Now I'm completely ignoring PAYE. If you did that, you'd probably be paying around $22k per year in loans. But this still leaves you with $51k left to spend on everything else (transportation, rent, food, entertainment, savings, etc.).

I'm not saying any of this is a bad deal, just that if you can get to the same outcome and not have $250k hanging over your head, the HLS prestige probably isn't worth it.

Pay does increase, though, and there are bonuses. It wouldn't take nine, but it's still much longer than I would consider acceptable.

That's a fair point. But then you would have to take into accounting increases in COL, etc. (although raises would probably outpace this), and also the possibility that you leave biglaw in a few years.

But I think we would both agree that to pay it off in less than 5 years it takes a substantial amount and percentage of your overall income to achieve. Sometimes people hear $250k in loans and then $160k salary and think "oh that'll be pretty easy" without taking into all the other factors. I just wanted to show that it's not that simple.

[paglababa]

Don't forget, you don't get $160k.

In NYC you're looking at around $95k-$99k after taxes. Take out another $16k for your 401k match, $6k for medical, dental, vision. Now you're at $73k.

$250k at 7% would take 4 years to pay off if you gave all $73k to loan payments (which we know you couldn't do). If you were really frugal and could devote half your take home pay, you could do it in 9 years.

Now I'm completely ignoring PAYE. If you did that, you'd probably be paying around $22k per year in loans. But this still leaves you with $51k left to spend on everything else (transportation, rent, food, entertainment, savings, etc.).

I'm not saying any of this is a bad deal, just that if you can get to the same outcome and not have $250k hanging over your head, the HLS prestige probably isn't worth it.

Pay does increase, though, and there are bonuses. It wouldn't take nine, but it's still much longer than I would consider acceptable.

That's a fair point. But then you would have to take into accounting increases in COL, etc. (although raises would probably outpace this), and also the possibility that you leave biglaw in a few years.

But I think we would both agree that to pay it off in less than 5 years it takes a substantial amount and percentage of your overall income to achieve. Sometimes people hear $250k in loans and then $160k salary and think "oh that'll be pretty easy" without taking into all the other factors. I just wanted to show that it's not that simple.

I'm pretty mad about entering a new tax bracket at big law income...also NY taxes suck. Texas Big law = TCR

[Dr.Zer0]

Got my pizza box in the mail today.

[moopness]

Got my pizza box in the mail today.

Congrats!!

[residentemma]

Got my pizza box in the mail today.

Welcome! As you can see above, crippling six-figure debt is practically yours!!!

[moopness]

When do we hear about any merit-based aid? Does it come in the pizza box or is it a separate email? I haven't gotten anything (email, mail, box) other than the phone call yet.

[Dr.Zer0]

Got my pizza box in the mail today.

Welcome! As you can see above, crippling six-figure debt is practically yours!!!

Sweet! Haha, I applied for one of the named schoolies so hopefully that softens the blow.

[paglababa]

When do we hear about any merit-based aid? Does it come in the pizza box or is it a separate email? I haven't gotten anything (email, mail, box) other than the phone call yet.

Some (fortunate) people got scholarships along with their acceptances. Us mere mortals have gotten an email saying to fill out the need access form. I think that was all I needed to do (didn't ask for w2 or tax return backup right?), though I'm still awaiting a merit offer. Can anyone confirm if I missed a crucial step?

[thewaves]

Anyone with work experience have savings? Hopefully that will help lessen your debt.

[lawschool22]

Anyone with work experience have savings? Hopefully that will help lessen your debt.

I have some, and I will be renting out my condo, so that will help as well. But with COA at $81k per (plus interest) it doesn't make a huge dent lol

[thewaves]

Anyone with work experience have savings? Hopefully that will help lessen your debt.[/quote

I have some, and I will be renting out my condo, so that will help as well. But with COA at $81k per (plus interest) it doesn't make a huge dent lol

Renting out your condo? Baller. And yeah, living in NYC as a student should give anyone pause.

[paglababa]

Anyone with work experience have savings? Hopefully that will help lessen your debt.[/quote

I have some, and I will be renting out my condo, so that will help as well. But with COA at $81k per (plus interest) it doesn't make a huge dent lol

You already got your merit offer right? Have you tried negotiating?

Interest starts accumulating on day 1 of your loan? So someone paying sticker at 81k/year will end up with ~300k in debt if nothing got paid while in school?

[Theopliske8711]

God I would love to grab a Biglaw Texas.