100K in debt, how do I minimize payments Forum

[seriously????]

So if I goto a certain school I am looking at 100k in debt. I am assuming 60k of the loans will be stafford, while the other 40k will be private. Now, if my payment plan is 10yrs, I assume I will owe at least a grand every month. I know there might be ways to make the payment plan 25-30yrs. Just seeing if anyone with experience or knowledge knows of a way to have monthly payments much lower than a thousand dollars if my debt is 100k. My brother who graduated med school five years ago (200k in debt) tells me that he has a 30yr plan and is only paying 700 a month. Just curious and hoping that I could put myself in a similar situation if I don't land biglaw at graduation.

[bk1]

You're going private and not gradplus to cover the last 40k?

ETA: My ballpark number is something like 1500/month for 10 years to cover 100k in loans which seems possible (if you scrimp and scrape) on a 50k/year salary (probably a bit high starting but you can tone down payments at first for a lower salary and then ramp up as it increases).

ETA2: This might be useful: http://www.finaid.org/calculators/loanpayments.phtml

[seriously????]

i don't know what I am doing, haha! (laughter in an absurd way).
1500 a month is steep, and impossible without biglaw or LRAP?

[Aberzombie1892]

i don't know what I am doing, haha! (laughter in an absurd way).
1500 a month is steep, and impossible without biglaw or LRAP?

Are you sure you are ready to attend law school?

I mean, you should at least be able to calculate and plan for you future beforehand.

$1,500 a month is $18,000 a year. Thus, you would probably need to make at least around $60,000 to realistically be able to afford that.

[albusdumbledore]

You're going private and not gradplus to cover the last 40k?

ETA: My ballpark number is something like 1500/month for 10 years to cover 100k in loans which seems possible (if you scrimp and scrape) on a 50k/year salary (probably a bit high starting but you can tone down payments at first for a lower salary and then ramp up as it increases).

ETA2: This might be useful: http://www.finaid.org/calculators/loanpayments.phtml

Definitely possible. I manage 2K a month on a 55k salary for undergrad stuff. And I'm not eating grilled cheese sandwiches every meal.

[bk1]

i don't know what I am doing, haha! (laughter in an absurd way).
1500 a month is steep, and impossible without biglaw or LRAP?

Are you sure you are ready to attend law school?

I mean, you should at least be able to calculate and plan for you future beforehand.

$1,500 a month is $18,000 a year. Thus, you would probably need to make at least around $60,000 to realistically be able to afford that.

It's steep but doable. You won't be saving anything that's for sure.

[seriously????]

i don't know what I am doing, haha! (laughter in an absurd way).
1500 a month is steep, and impossible without biglaw or LRAP?

Are you sure you are ready to attend law school?

I mean, you should at least be able to calculate and plan for you future beforehand.

$1,500 a month is $18,000 a year. Thus, you would probably need to make at least around $60,000 to realistically be able to afford that.

yeah I am ready. But 18k a year is major bank, and I would not be happy with 60K with that much owed. Plus the 60k to get by is most likely in the cheapest city possible. My only question was if there is a way to finance the loans in a way for it to be 750 a month, even if for a longer period of time. Because loan payments at 1500 pretty much put you in the biglaw or bust situation, IMHO.

[paratactical]

yeah I am ready. But 18k a year is major bank, and I would not be happy with 60K with that much owed. Plus the 60k to get by is most likely in the cheapest city possible. My only question was if there is a way to finance the loans in a way for it to be 750 a month, even if for a longer period of time. Because loan payments at 1500 pretty much put you in the biglaw or bust situation, IMHO.

Um, I lived on 32k for two years in NYC. No, it's not great, but it's doable. You need to admit that it's the standard you want to live to that makes this difficult and not the money itself.

[seriously????]

i lived in NYC for three years with less money. I know its doable. But waiters in NYC can make 60k a year, I wouldn't want to be a lawyer in NYC with that little money, especially if a third of my salary is going to loans. But that is just me. There are plenty of lawyers who chose to go NYC just to do doc review, and they are sticking it out.

[Anonymous Loser]

I've been visiting this site for years, and is still amazes me that people will go through the entire process of applying to law school without having the even the slightest idea how they plan to manage a six-figure educational debt.

http://studentaid.ed.gov/PORTALSWebApp/ ... fRepay.jsp

[seriously????]

thanks for the link, greatly appreciated.
however, it should not amaze you how we go through the application process without an idea about how to pay our debt, for the application process only costs a few hundred dollars, and the debt estimations can only be made after acceptances and scholarships are offered. But yeah, people need to have an understanding about loan repayment before they enter law school, which is what I am trying to do.

[jd1969a]

I already have a debt of slightly over $100,000 from undergraduate. I'm on a 25-30 year repayment plan and pay about $700/month. I've managed to do it on a salary of under $45,000/year, but it definitely sucks.

[thepete]

I definitely feel the pressure you have on your shoulder.. I am starting to stress over the debt I will be faced with if I choose to goto this school I have in my mind (the school is not offering me any scholly....). Knowing that there are other prospective law students out there who are experiencing similar pain makes me feel better about myself loll.
I guess one can manage to pay off 100k+ debt making 50k+ and still lead a decent life, relatively speaking.
As for the poster above me, wow 100k off undergraduate? How are you planning to pay your law school or are you getting massive scholly?

[jd1969a]

I definitely feel the pressure you have on your shoulder.. I am starting to stress over the debt I will be faced with if I choose to goto this school I have in my mind (the school is not offering me any scholly....). Knowing that there are other prospective law students out there who are experiencing similar pain makes me feel better about myself loll.
I guess one can manage to pay off 100k+ debt making 50k+ and still lead a decent life, relatively speaking.
As for the poster above me, wow 100k off undergraduate? How are you planning to pay your law school or are you getting massive scholly?

I have a decent scholarship to my first choice. I'm also hoping to get need based aid. My undergraduate fafsa didn't qualify me for much since I was still a dependent, but now that I have that huge loan and I no longer had to include my parent's info, my EFC was very low, so hopefully schools will throw some grant money my way. I've also applied for several outside scholarships, and if I get at least one of them I should be ok. I do have my parents as a back-up plan though. I didn't get help paying for undergrad, but they've offered to help with law school (kind of backwards from most people, and I would rather not take the help at this point in my life, but it's nice knowing it's there as a last resort.)

I completely regret going that far into debt as an undergrad, and if I could do it all over again I would go to a state school on scholarship, but I had a very unrealistic idea of money when I was 17 and taking on all of that debt.