Top Law Schools

Two of my best friends (one is a 0L like me and the other is a rising 3L) have parents who are completely footing the bill.
I must say that while I know that I am in the majority in taking out massive loans, I can't help but being REALLY jealous of having the freedom of not worrying about debt.

Lower income people usually receive financial grants from the school and the government (FAFSA). Then take out loans for the remainder like everyone else.

This brings me to my next point: This system is unjust.

Just because my parents make a lot of money the government and schools expect/ assume they will help with expenses. This is not always the case. My parents will not be paying for any of my law school and, as a result, I will be forced into a ton of debt.

sonofpithypike wrote:Lower income people usually receive financial grants from the school and the government (FAFSA). Then take out loans for the remainder like everyone else.

This brings me to my next point: This system is unjust.

Just because my parents make a lot of money the government and schools expect/ assume they will help with expenses. This is not always the case. My parents will not be paying for any of my law school and, as a result, I will be forced into a ton of debt.

I'm guessing you haven't gone through the FAFSA filing yet? I believe that in many cases (people feel free to chip in if I am in error), especially if you've been working, you don't even have to put your parents info into the FAFSA financial aid form. For the NeedAccess you do, but generally the only impact your parents income MAY have is on the amount of subsidized loan you are getting as opposed to unsubsidized.
My parents make decent bank and so do I, but I had no problem taking out the max on subsidized. The threshold is low and they realize you are going to have NO income come next year.

Also, all of my loans are government backed loans, either Stafford or Grad Plus (Stafford with lower rate and some subsidized). People do take out private loans and I may have to take out minor ones (especially if I can't secure paid 1L summer employment), but if you live lean you will probably be able to do okay with the budget allowances published by your school.

i agree w/ some above posters. many minorities feel pressure from family members to accept the school giving the biggest scholly. i fall into that category because i do not want a ton of debt and howard u gives good placement- however i am on the waitlist at cornell and a few others.

With drug money and with money from my hoes lol.

Freelance pharmaceutical imports

This is a major concern for me..Im not going to get merit money because of my crappy gpa.

I feel very strongly against paying interest (its against my religion) and my parents cant afford to pay for law school in cash. I am looking at various scholarships that i think I would have a shot at because I'm a minority and also because they would not look at my grades from 6 years ago, but only at my gpa from the school I transferred to now, which is good.

I have also heard various stories of muslim med students who wanted to avoid interest and went to local mosques and asked members to fund their education. This one kid collected donations from everyone, even if it was only $50 and paid for his entire medical education without taking out a single loan. Others took funding from the local muslim community/mosques in the form of non-interest bearing loans.

I'm looking into a bunch of different options. I really want to avoid interest

Does anybody know how much money you can actually take out in loans? My parents paid my UG tuition (I lived at home and in-state so I never had any housing or out-of-state bills,) but I'm paying for law school myself. Some of the schools I'm applying to (like all of them) have yearly tuition around 40, 50K, so I'm a little concerned about that.

Plus, I'll most likely be moving to some expensive big city, based on the locations of most of the good schools.

jmirand1 wrote:Does anybody know how much money you can actually take out in loans? My parents paid my UG tuition (I lived at home and in-state so I never had any housing or out-of-state bills,) but I'm paying for law school myself. Some of the schools I'm applying to (like all of them) have yearly tuition around 40, 50K, so I'm a little concerned about that.

Plus, I'll most likely be moving to some expensive big city, based on the locations of most of the good schools.

You can borrow up to the cost of attendance through stafford and gradplus loans.

goosey wrote:This is a major concern for me..Im not going to get merit money because of my crappy gpa.

I feel very strongly against paying interest (its against my religion) and my parents cant afford to pay for law school in cash. I am looking at various scholarships that i think I would have a shot at because I'm a minority and also because they would not look at my grades from 6 years ago, but only at my gpa from the school I transferred to now, which is good.

I have also heard various stories of muslim med students who wanted to avoid interest and went to local mosques and asked members to fund their education. This one kid collected donations from everyone, even if it was only $50 and paid for his entire medical education without taking out a single loan. Others took funding from the local muslim community/mosques in the form of non-interest bearing loans.

I'm looking into a bunch of different options. I really want to avoid interest

Religion is a place to find spiritual fulfillment, not sound financial advice.

casper13 wrote:

Kohinoor wrote: URMs may more often have to opt for the best school that full rides them.

Wow I love the stereotypical thoughts here. And I wonder what the problem with society is today.

I like how URM is being used as a synonym for "hand-to-mouth" poor.

Race debate...cool.

I'm paying with savings, possibly some loans, and significant parental assistance. *Yes, my parents are rich/white.

I'm paying with loans and scholarship $

I moved back home and worked for two years so that I could afford the up-front cost of law school. Loans will cover the rest.

If you can't afford law school straight out of undergrad do something constructive, save your money, and grow as a person. Chances are you'll be 10x more mature than the students piggy backing off their parents' money with no real-world experience. Regardless of creed, color, nationality.

excelsiorcaelo wrote:

goosey wrote:This is a major concern for me..Im not going to get merit money because of my crappy gpa.

I feel very strongly against paying interest (its against my religion) and my parents cant afford to pay for law school in cash. I am looking at various scholarships that i think I would have a shot at because I'm a minority and also because they would not look at my grades from 6 years ago, but only at my gpa from the school I transferred to now, which is good.

I have also heard various stories of muslim med students who wanted to avoid interest and went to local mosques and asked members to fund their education. This one kid collected donations from everyone, even if it was only $50 and paid for his entire medical education without taking out a single loan. Others took funding from the local muslim community/mosques in the form of non-interest bearing loans.

I'm looking into a bunch of different options. I really want to avoid interest

Religion is a place to find spiritual fulfillment, not sound financial advice.

that likely depends on what religion means to a person. In some cases, yes I agree with you. But in my case, I see it as my way of life and thus it impacts everything about my life, including finances.

excelsiorcaelo wrote:

goosey wrote:This is a major concern for me..Im not going to get merit money because of my crappy gpa.

I feel very strongly against paying interest (its against my religion) and my parents cant afford to pay for law school in cash. I am looking at various scholarships that i think I would have a shot at because I'm a minority and also because they would not look at my grades from 6 years ago, but only at my gpa from the school I transferred to now, which is good.

I have also heard various stories of muslim med students who wanted to avoid interest and went to local mosques and asked members to fund their education. This one kid collected donations from everyone, even if it was only $50 and paid for his entire medical education without taking out a single loan. Others took funding from the local muslim community/mosques in the form of non-interest bearing loans.

I'm looking into a bunch of different options. I really want to avoid interest

Religion is a place to find spiritual fulfillment, not sound financial advice.

Try respecting her convictions and not being an asshole.

prezidentv8 wrote:

casper13 wrote:

Kohinoor wrote: URMs may more often have to opt for the best school that full rides them.

Wow I love the stereotypical thoughts here. And I wonder what the problem with society is today.

I like how URM is being used as a synonym for "hand-to-mouth" poor.

I like how it's somehow offensive to state uncontested facts.

Kohinoor wrote:

prezidentv8 wrote:

casper13 wrote:

Kohinoor wrote: URMs may more often have to opt for the best school that full rides them.

Wow I love the stereotypical thoughts here. And I wonder what the problem with society is today.

I like how URM is being used as a synonym for "hand-to-mouth" poor.

I like how it's somehow offensive to state uncontested facts.

I'm not offended...but "may more often" doesn't even make your statement an assertion, much less a fact. Besides the point, even if what you're implying is true, that is probably not due to the fact that they are URM, but because URM groups in general have less wealth and income.

Of course, that is a generality which does not mean that such is the case for "URMs" but for relatively "more URMs."

I am just pointing out that because something is generally true for a group does not suddenly make it true nor synonymous with the name of a group. By the logic that I think you are using, and using a different (and probably slightly obscure) topic: I can say that black women are obese because the prevalence of obesity is higher in black women than in other women. Therefore, "black woman" is synonymous with "obese." I think this is an absurd way of looking at any sort of social or economic issue. URM as a synonym for poor is hardly an uncontested fact, much in the same way that "obese" and "black woman" are by no means synonymous.

Now, I'm not getting into a big URM debate here, but come on - don't be over-dramatic about the issue. All I was pointing out is that the problem of paying for law school is by no means one that is inherently restricted to URMs. Hell, maybe they're more likely to have a hard time, maybe there are social factors at play, maybe there is some sort of racial bias in admissions or financial aid - I don't know. But it's not like 100% of whites and Asians are paying cashmoney up front for law school, and 100% of blacks and Hispanics are auctioning off their first born. Speaking in absolutes =/= genius.

Question on the gradPlus creditworthiness... is the credit requirement that you are not CURRENTLY 90 days or more delinquent on debt or you have never been 90 days or more delinquent on a debt?

Prostitution ... unfortunately, as the semester wore on, I found no takers!

Kohinoor wrote:Was just thinking to myself that the expense of law school may be a factor in keeping minorities out of the highest rungs. Where others can better afford the loans or have parents pay their way and thus are free to go to the absolute best schools that accept them, URMs may more often have to opt for the best school that full rides them. Thoughts?

I see no absolutes here numbnuts, I see sound probability.

Debt slave here too.

I am paying for Law School through online poker winnings. Seriously.

jawsthegreat wrote:I am paying for Law School through online poker winnings. Seriously.

Not too shabby, I'm with you except that instead of online poker, I primarily bet on sports!

jawsthegreat wrote:I am paying for Law School through online poker winnings. Seriously.

Weird, I had the money to pay for law school until I started playing online poker.

Student Loans.