Top Law Schools

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http://www.top-law-schools.com/forums/v ... 1&t=206299 ?

What are your goals? How are you paying for law school (loans vs. rich parents vs. GI bill ect.). Where are you leaning towards and why?

With cost of living NYU or CLS is likely to be $90,000 more in debt than Michigan. With rising interest rates, that translates to more than $1,000 extra per month of pay your loans back in 10 years. And assuming you're incomes high, it may well be after tax dollars. With LRAP programs facing questions, I think you would be crazy to pay full price at NYU or CLS, unless you have a very compelling reason to be in New York for the next three years.

Poll this.

HP5450 wrote:With cost of living NYU or CLS is likely to be $90,000 more in debt than Michigan. With rising interest rates, that translates to more than $1,000 extra per month of pay your loans back in 10 years. And assuming you're incomes high, it may well be after tax dollars. With LRAP programs facing questions, I think you would be crazy to pay full price at NYU or CLS, unless you have a very compelling reason to be in New York for the next three years.

Poll this.

Sticker at NYU or Columbia is out of the question. The price is just way too high. 75k at Michigan is still too expensive, but you'll be able to pay off almost all your loans in 4 years of biglaw. And if you don't get biglaw you'll probably be able to pay them off over 10 or 15 years. At Columbia or NYU you're going to need 6 or 7 years of biglaw. If you get pushed out after 3 you're still going to have 200k in debt hanging over your head. That's not a good place to be in. If you go to NYU or Columbia and don't get biglaw, or your firm folds very early in your career, or you burn out really fast you're absolutely screwed.

Nomo wrote:

HP5450 wrote:With cost of living NYU or CLS is likely to be $90,000 more in debt than Michigan. With rising interest rates, that translates to more than $1,000 extra per month of pay your loans back in 10 years. And assuming you're incomes high, it may well be after tax dollars. With LRAP programs facing questions, I think you would be crazy to pay full price at NYU or CLS, unless you have a very compelling reason to be in New York for the next three years.

Poll this.

Sticker at NYU or Columbia is out of the question. The price is just way too high. 75k at Michigan is still too expensive, but you'll be able to pay off almost all your loans in 4 years of biglaw. And if you don't get biglaw you'll probably be able to pay them off over 10 or 15 years. At Columbia or NYU you're going to need 6 or 7 years of biglaw. If you get pushed out after 3 you're still going to have 200k in debt hanging over your head. That's not a good place to be in. If you go to NYU or Columbia and don't get biglaw, or your firm folds very early in your career, or you burn out really fast you're absolutely screwed.

You hedge on Michigan, so I'm unsure of your overall recommendation here, but this seems like a weirdly rosy picture to paint of Michigan at that price. He's still going to have $200k in debt from Michigan, counting interest. That means he needs biglaw, regardless of the decent scholarship. I'm not sure how you get the numbers of him paying that back without biglaw over 15 years, but even so, "hey, it'll only take 15 years!" isn't exactly something to do a jig over.

At a certain debt level, it seems like locking down biglaw in the first place is more important than worrying about how you're going to pay off the last $90k. Which is not to say that OP should just go to CLS at sticker no questions (it's not a decision to be taken lightly), but just that the $90k difference here wouldn't be paid for no reason -- you get a very sizable biglaw cushion picking CLS over Michigan. You're significantly less likely to get it from Michigan -- and if you don't get it, you're in a bad spot.

jumpin munkey wrote:

Nomo wrote:

HP5450 wrote:With cost of living NYU or CLS is likely to be $90,000 more in debt than Michigan. With rising interest rates, that translates to more than $1,000 extra per month of pay your loans back in 10 years. And assuming you're incomes high, it may well be after tax dollars. With LRAP programs facing questions, I think you would be crazy to pay full price at NYU or CLS, unless you have a very compelling reason to be in New York for the next three years.

Poll this.

Sticker at NYU or Columbia is out of the question. The price is just way too high. 75k at Michigan is still too expensive, but you'll be able to pay off almost all your loans in 4 years of biglaw. And if you don't get biglaw you'll probably be able to pay them off over 10 or 15 years. At Columbia or NYU you're going to need 6 or 7 years of biglaw. If you get pushed out after 3 you're still going to have 200k in debt hanging over your head. That's not a good place to be in. If you go to NYU or Columbia and don't get biglaw, or your firm folds very early in your career, or you burn out really fast you're absolutely screwed.

You hedge on Michigan, so I'm unsure of your overall recommendation here, but this seems like a weirdly rosy picture to paint of Michigan at that price. He's still going to have $200k in debt from Michigan, counting interest. That means he needs biglaw, regardless of the decent scholarship. I'm not sure how you get the numbers of him paying that back without biglaw over 15 years, but even so, "hey, it'll only take 15 years!" isn't exactly something to do a jig over.

At a certain debt level, it seems like locking down biglaw in the first place is more important than worrying about how you're going to pay off the last $90k. Which is not to say that OP should just go to CLS at sticker no questions (it's not a decision to be taken lightly), but just that the $90k difference here wouldn't be paid for no reason -- you get a very sizable biglaw cushion picking CLS over Michigan. You're significantly less likely to get it from Michigan -- and if you don't get it, you're in a bad spot.

You shouldn't count the interest paid as debt, at least not with without a reduction for expected inflation. With $25,000 per year from Mich, tuition is likely to average about $30,000 while you're there. If you can live on $15,000 a year (which is pretty easy to do in Ann Arbor and not so much in New York), you're talking about financing $120,000. The total due when you graduate will be a bit more because of interest accrued, but currency will be worth a little less. The 10-year repayment cost is likely to run about $1,300. You don't have to get big law to manage that. With $210,000+, you really do.

Gotcha, thanks.

HP5450 wrote:

jumpin munkey wrote:

Nomo wrote:

HP5450 wrote:With cost of living NYU or CLS is likely to be $90,000 more in debt than Michigan. With rising interest rates, that translates to more than $1,000 extra per month of pay your loans back in 10 years. And assuming you're incomes high, it may well be after tax dollars. With LRAP programs facing questions, I think you would be crazy to pay full price at NYU or CLS, unless you have a very compelling reason to be in New York for the next three years.

Poll this.

Sticker at NYU or Columbia is out of the question. The price is just way too high. 75k at Michigan is still too expensive, but you'll be able to pay off almost all your loans in 4 years of biglaw. And if you don't get biglaw you'll probably be able to pay them off over 10 or 15 years. At Columbia or NYU you're going to need 6 or 7 years of biglaw. If you get pushed out after 3 you're still going to have 200k in debt hanging over your head. That's not a good place to be in. If you go to NYU or Columbia and don't get biglaw, or your firm folds very early in your career, or you burn out really fast you're absolutely screwed.

You hedge on Michigan, so I'm unsure of your overall recommendation here, but this seems like a weirdly rosy picture to paint of Michigan at that price. He's still going to have $200k in debt from Michigan, counting interest. That means he needs biglaw, regardless of the decent scholarship. I'm not sure how you get the numbers of him paying that back without biglaw over 15 years, but even so, "hey, it'll only take 15 years!" isn't exactly something to do a jig over.

At a certain debt level, it seems like locking down biglaw in the first place is more important than worrying about how you're going to pay off the last $90k. Which is not to say that OP should just go to CLS at sticker no questions (it's not a decision to be taken lightly), but just that the $90k difference here wouldn't be paid for no reason -- you get a very sizable biglaw cushion picking CLS over Michigan. You're significantly less likely to get it from Michigan -- and if you don't get it, you're in a bad spot.

You shouldn't count the interest paid as debt, at least not with without a reduction for expected inflation. With $25,000 per year from Mich, tuition is likely to average about $30,000 while you're there. If you can live on $15,000 a year (which is pretty easy to do in Ann Arbor and not so much in New York), you're talking about financing $120,000. The total due when you graduate will be a bit more because of interest accrued, but currency will be worth a little less. The 10-year repayment cost is likely to run about $1,300. You don't have to get big law to manage that. With $210,000+, you really do.

Big Law wages have been stagnant since 2007. Its hard to make the inflation argument when everything but your income is rising.

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