Indiana Bloomington Debt Free? Forum

[xqt00]

Can you give me thoughts on attending there and graduating debt free?

[Winston1984]

What do you want to do? Stats? Do you have a full ride or do you have family paying for school?

[xqt00]

Full tuition scholly, COL will be taken care of. No more retakes, no ties.

Primary goal is to have the degree without debt.
Secondary goal is to have employment in the legal/governmental field. It does not have to be big law. I'm most interested in the freedom that being debt free allows.

[northwood]

since graduating debt free is your primary concern- then its not that bad of a place, so long as the only stipulation is to remain in good standing.

However, you should take into consideration where you want to be after law school. If you do not want to be in Indiana, then you need to understand that a law degree is not very portable.

[xqt00]

Yeah, that's the only stipulation (besides the obvious honor code).

I wouldn't mind staying in Indiana too long. I figure having no debt would permit me to take a lower paying job if necessary. If I wanted to stop practicing and do something different, I could because I am not so constrained by debt.

As an extreme example, suppose one graduates debt free. Even though he or she has a degree, he or she could take a job at McDonalds making only a livable wage for the rest of life since there is no debt to repay.

[TheSpanishMain]

If you don't mind living and working in Indiana, then yeah, I think this is a defensible option. If you're interested in government (and by that you mean stuff like being a DA/PD in Indiana, not super prestigious DC stuff) then I think this is solid.

[Winston1984]

No ties may be a problem. But I don't know how insular the market is. Otherwise, I would say that it's not a bad option.

[Mack.Hambleton]

Why not just take a full ride at a state flagship near where you live?

As someone who lives close to Indiana, it's hard to believe someone would want to move there without being forced.

[Chekhov'sGun]

Why not just take a full ride at a state flagship near where you live?

As someone who lives close to Indiana, it's hard to believe someone would want to move there without being forced.

As a native Hoosier, I'd say Indianapolis is nothing like DC, NY, LA or CHI but with a very low COL and blossoming downtown, it's not too bad of a place to be. Bloomington is the quintessential college town, beautiful scenery with enough to do to keep you entertained for 3 years. I'd definitely recommend visitng before you make a decision though. From my limited experience working in both government and law firms in IN, I don't think that a lack of ties should be an issue with a Maurer degree. Lots of Maurer grads I meet are not originally from Indiana. Not sure what type of gov work you want to do and what your political leanings are but the political atmosphere can be an issue for some. Bloomington is very liberal and Indy leans left, but the rest of the state is very conservative.

[TigerDude]

you can be debt free without going to law school. You ignore the opportunity cost of the 3 years if you don't go.