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I wasn't sure where to put this, but Financial Aid seemed like the best spot. My apologies if I'm off on this...

Anyway, I've never owned a car before, but it is becoming increasingly clear that I'll need to get one for law school. How does one go about making car payments without any income coming in? I assume you'd have to use money from your federally subsidized loans to cover the payments on a separate car loan until you graduate, because the cost of a car plus all of your other expenses probably exceeds the COA limit of federally subsidized loans. That seems super inefficient, because you would essentially pay double interest for each dollar used towards the car. Is there another way that I'm not seeing?

Step 1. Beg, borrow or steal about 10k from friends and family (perhaps you even have some savings).

Step 2. Buy an old Volvo or Toyota.

Aqualibrium wrote:Step 1. Beg, borrow or steal about 10k from friends and family (perhaps you even have some savings).

Step 2. Buy an old Volvo or Toyota.

yea, not really an option. I have poor friends and come from a poor family... sooo...

Any other suggestions? I'm sure I can't be the only person that has had to buy a car during law school without parent involvement.

Car free for the last three years after living in South all my life. What city/school do you plan to live in?

You have time before school starts. Find a way to save up 2-3k and buy a shitty car that will work until you are better settled.

Haven't decided yet. I have a few acceptances and waiting on a few more, but they are all in areas that require a car. I did undergrad in a city of about a million (really needed a car; basically begged roommates for rides to the grocery store and such) and I really would not like to repeat that experience. It was awful. I always felt stranded.

Another alternative to a car is a scooter. If you plan to stay inside a suburb or a big city, you can buy a good scooter for $1000-sky is the limit. Maintenance free and some states do not require registration/insurance. You can also still go grocery, shop, and hang out with friends

nonprofit-prophet wrote:Haven't decided yet. I have a few acceptances and waiting on a few more, but they are all in areas that require a car. I did undergrad in a city of about a million (really needed a car; basically begged roommates for rides to the grocery store and such) and I really would not like to repeat that experience. It was awful. I always felt stranded.

Well if you cant scrape together the 10k, then paratical's suggestion is the best. You need to get a job asap and scrape together a few thousand to buy a shitty car that will get you around.

It's not a good idea to try to pay a car note while you have no income.

Great thread subject line: "I have no IN-COME COMING IN..."

Love it.

If you take out the full COA and live somewhere cheap with roommates, you should be able to squeeze a few thousand to buy a crappy car. Of course, there's also insurance, gas, and maintenance...