GULC-How Much Scholarship Money for it to be Worth it Forum

[giantsfan564789]

I've made a thread mentioning GULC before, and I've looked through many other threads, and it seems that the general consensus on this site is that GULC at sticker is not worth it.

I would like to know what people believe the minimum amount of scholly someone would need to be offered for attendance at GULC to make sense. Is the number 10k a year? 20k? 35k?

I would like to ask that you also assume this person does not currently live in DC, and will be paying the full living expenses that one who lives on their own in DC would have to pay.

Thank you very much for any responses. Responses with just a number alone would be very much appreciated, but longer responses would be appreciated as well.

Thanks a lot

[crit_racer]

I probably wouldn't wanna take out any more than 150k (total with interest) for it.

[giantsfan564789]

I probably wouldn't wanna take out any more than 150k (total with interest) for it.

Any estimate as to how much scholly per year that would mean?

[Winston1984]

I probably wouldn't wanna take out any more than 150k (total with interest) for it.

Any estimate as to how much scholly per year that would mean?

About 45k/yr. Not my answer btw, just the answer to your question.

[giantsfan564789]

Okay. So that answer seems to mean that you'd pretty much need a full scholarship for it to be worth it, since GULC is about 48k/yr.

Any other answers?

[Nelson]

You can't answer this question as a hypothetical in a vacuum.

[BigZuck]

I wouldn't go into a whole hell of a lot more than 100K debt for GULC

[twenty]

I'd go to GULC for infinite monies.

I'm also in a unique situation, and there's no way in hell I'd recommend anyone else go for more than 90k COA.

This is why the question doesn't work in a vacuum.

[worldtraveler]

What do you want to do? If you use PSLF/IBR the question completely changes.

[LeninLunchbox]

What do you want to do? If you use PSLF/IBR the question completely changes.

This. That number is different for everyone.

I know you posted before but it would really be helpful if you just include the info in the damn sticky.

It depends on many things. Do you have undergrad debt? Familial contributions/savings? How debt averse are you? Where would you/want to work? etc. etc. etc.

I go to GULC. I get 15k a year. Many people on here would say this is too little. For any of them, they are right. Due to my particular combination of the above factors, I decided it was enough. Two years later I'm confident I made the right call. It is equally clear to me now it would have been the wrong call for tons of people.

TL;DR? Moar info plz! PM me if you want, I'd be happy to share more details.

[bananatopia]

deleted

[giantsfan564789]

Just to clarify, the alternative would be not attending law school at all. Any other opinions?

[gtz]

GULC 2L:

I will have 60K debt and a V20 SA lined up and I'm still a little nervous about paying it back. My max would have been 100K total I know at least 30% of my friends missed big law and will have max debt and this is ruining their lives. GULC is a great school but beware that their is a sizeable chance that you will miss BigLaw and anything over 100K debt is crippling without BIgLaw to start with. However, I have no clue about the GULC's LRAP or similar programs so if your going for PI just disregard my advice.

[cotiger]

I'd say 80-90k debt would be the tipping point for me if it were GULC v no law school.

[wolf]

GULC 2L here and I'll be 145K in debt at graduation. I did land a Big Law gig for next summer in my home state, but I was prepared to go the PSLF/IBR Prosecutor route if I struck out and would have been very happy with that. Part of me would actually rather the litigation and excitement of just being a prosecutor. As far as LRAP, if your starting salary is less than 75K or in my situation 87K, I have a family, the cost of attending GULC is totally free. That is a pretty good fallback option if your shooting for private practice and strike out.

Short answer. Depends on your career aspirations. You can definitely get Big Law from GULC. Out of my study group, all six landed something at EIW. Good Luck with your decision.

[cotiger]

As far as LRAP, if your starting salary is less than 75K or in my situation 87K, I have a family, the cost of attending GULC is totally free. That is a pretty good fallback option if your shooting for private practice and strike out.

Um, don't you have to land a PI/Gov gig to be able to use LRAP?

[vuthy]

As far as LRAP, if your starting salary is less than 75K or in my situation 87K, I have a family, the cost of attending GULC is totally free. That is a pretty good fallback option if your shooting for private practice and strike out.

Um, don't you have to land a PI/Gov gig to be able to use LRAP?

I think what he's saying is that if one were in his situation (family) and were to do PI/Gov, the magic number would be <$87k. (Not that he's doing this.)

[cotiger]

As far as LRAP, if your starting salary is less than 75K or in my situation 87K, I have a family, the cost of attending GULC is totally free. That is a pretty good fallback option if your shooting for private practice and strike out.

Um, don't you have to land a PI/Gov gig to be able to use LRAP?

I think what he's saying is that if one were in his situation (family) and were to do PI/Gov, the magic number would be <$87k. (Not that he's doing this.)

Right, but he's making seem like if you strike out it's okay bc you can just decide to go into PI and have everything be free. It's not that easy because PI/Gov hiring is not something you just waltz into as a fallback.

Over the last three years GULC has only had an average of 64% of its classes go into biglaw/A3 or PI/Gov (and 5% of those were school-funded, so not reliable for 10 years of repayment). All of those small law and unemployed people are screwed if they took out big loans.

[wolf]

I will agree that landing a gov/PI job is not a lock, but a large number of those unemployed at GULC are only trying to land employment in DC. That is a recipe for disaster. There are non FED gov jobs to be had outside of the beltway. I was fairly certain I could get a gov job back in Texas before I started law school. It all depends on their situation, but GULC can be a good choice even with debt over 100K.

[cotiger]

I will agree that landing a gov/PI job is not a lock, but a large number of those unemployed at GULC are only trying to land employment in DC. That is a recipe for disaster. There are non FED gov jobs to be had outside of the beltway.

I'm only a 0L, but from what I've read on this forum it doesn't sound to me like state/local Gov/PI positions are as easy to get as you make it seem. My understanding is that state/local Gov/PI doesn't care much about T14 status (if at all), so you have to out-hustle the local T1/2 students who are already there and have been gunning for those jobs all along.

ETA: Texas may be different, as it seems like people on here can usually pretty easily get back there.

[wolf]

I am from Texas and worked for over a decade in law enforcement prior to law school. So for me, it was a fairly safe bet with the connections I had prior to law school I could land a prosecutor job. Like I said, in my situation GULC's LRAP was a nice safety net.

[cotiger]

I am from Texas and worked for over a decade in law enforcement prior to law school. So for me, it was a fairly safe bet with the connections I had prior to law school I could land a prosecutor job. Like I said, in my situation GULC's LRAP was a nice safety net.

Gotcha.

[arivtal]

What kind of boost does being Hispanic grant me in terms of job prospects? If I end up at GULC (and land a median GPA), should I still expect to have a 64% chance (as was mentioned above, or whatever the real number is) that I land BigLaw, or can I expect something better?

Also, if I'm interested in BigLaw in California, how good is GULC?

Thanks so much

[wolf]

I know several Mexican/PR americans that landed a 1L SA through the diversity programs and I think they were invited back for their 2L summer.

As far as CALI hiring, I really do not know since most students I hang with were looking at the East coast and I was looking at Texas. I can tell you there was a boat load of firms from CALI at EIW. Way more than I expected, and in the 2L class we have a substantial number of students from the West coast. Second probably only to the Northeast.

[arivtal]

Great, thank you!