Top Law Schools

Good News: Acceptances at UVA, Duke, and Penn Law.

Bad News: No underrepresented statuses, and so far I'm stuck at sticker price ... and sticker shock .

Financial Situation: My father is a lawyer about to enter retirement, and he will not be contributing since he funded my undergraduate education. I've been working at a tech consulting firm for just over a year and I will have saved $20k by the time I start law school. It's a drop in the bucket, but hopefully it will help!

Debt Projections: At sticker price, I'd be looking at around $250k for all three years. After the three years of education + interest, I'm guessing my debt would be something like $270k-280k, growing by about 21k per year, and rising if the principal grows.

Questions:
1. What factors would sway your decision to attend UVA/Duke/Penn Law at sticker price?
2. If I'm making around $90k-110k post-tax, can I reasonably expect to pay interest and put a meaningful dent in the principal?
3. Should my annual salary increase enough over time to significantly pare down this debt?
4. How are other people successfully financing this monster debt load? Is this debt load insane?

Career Goals? You'd pretty much be relegated to Biglaw or many years of PI for LRAP/PAYE(PSLF) with that debt, from what I understand.

OR

Go to Duke --> Do porn on the holidays

transferror wrote:Go to Duke --> Do porn on the holidays

Hah, how mad do you think Duke UG adcomms are about that one?

a.sleepyhead wrote:

transferror wrote:Go to Duke --> Do porn on the holidays

Hah, how mad do you think Duke UG adcomms are about that one?

Just googled this, wow

transferror wrote:Career Goals? You'd pretty much be relegated to Biglaw or many years of PI for LRAP/PAYE(PSLF) with that debt, from what I understand.

OR

Go to Duke --> Do porn on the holidays

PAYE and PSLF are on the verge of being eliminated, so I wouldn't count on them.

Tom Joad wrote:

transferror wrote:Career Goals? You'd pretty much be relegated to Biglaw or many years of PI for LRAP/PAYE(PSLF) with that debt, from what I understand.

OR

Go to Duke --> Do porn on the holidays

PAYE and PSLF are on the verge of being eliminated, so I wouldn't count on them.

For people who take their first loan after July of 2015, no?

blink wrote:

Tom Joad wrote:

transferror wrote:Career Goals? You'd pretty much be relegated to Biglaw or many years of PI for LRAP/PAYE(PSLF) with that debt, from what I understand.

OR

Go to Duke --> Do porn on the holidays

PAYE and PSLF are on the verge of being eliminated, so I wouldn't count on them.

For people who take their first loan after July of 2015, no?

Too early to say, but I wouldn't bet my future what Congress may or may not do over 25 years.

You are the first person I've ever seen on here to even slightly overestimate their costs. Congrats on being realistic! Though sticker still blows..

UVA and Duke should result in about $260,000 debt at graduation. However, their stated COLs are wayyy above what it actually costs to live in C-ville/Durham, so hopefully that number could come down another $10-20k.

Penn should result in about $270,000 debt at graduation.

Should you get a biglaw gig, there's also summer income to take into consideration that would reduce those debt numbers a bit.

As for paying off those debts. If you want $270k gone in five years, you'll have to pay $64k/yr into them. Gone in four years means $78k/yr. IF you get biglaw, paying it down in four is feasible, though you'd have to be sending every bit of your disposable income there for four years.

IMO at this level of debt the most important thing is to make sure you get a biglaw job. So I'd pick Penn even with the potential $30k cost difference.

That's alotta debt no matter what way you look at it. Did you get financial aid offers? Is it full sticker, or did you get at least a little bit of need help?

The full debt load is heavy, but Penn gives you the best chance at big law and the best chance to service this debt. If your gunning for big law, the debt is manageable but definitely crippling from any school.

Full-sticker -- Not an ounce of financial aid. Thanks for the advice!

did you apply to any lower schools?

if you get money from any lower t-14 you should try negotiating a little

would help lower sticker shock a bit

What are your numbers? If I were you I'd keep your gig and retake. Too much debt even if we presume you could hold down a biglaw gig for an extended period of time, IMO.

I would recommend being born into a wealthy family (I failed on this account in a big way).

170 LSAT, 3.6 gpa.

you could potentially retake if you feel you can do better

I appreciate the advice but I'm not interested in retaking the LSAT or applying to different schools. I'm just curious about how regular people expect to bankroll this.

sweebez wrote:I'm just curious about how regular people expect to bankroll this.

I think most people approach it with a mixture of denial and (perhaps delusional) belief that they will win the lottery.

Hahaha sounds like a plan

haus wrote:

sweebez wrote:I'm just curious about how regular people expect to bankroll this.

I think most people approach it with a mixture of denial and (perhaps delusional) belief that they will win the lottery.

not gonna lie i never played powerball until i acquired six figures of law school debt

sweebez wrote:I appreciate the advice but I'm not interested in retaking the LSAT or applying to different schools. I'm just curious about how regular people expect to bankroll this.

regular people don't, or shouldn't.

your only chance to reduce tuition price is to leverage scholarship offers from other schools

you should have applied to most of the t14s for this exact reason, if you haven't, pray for big law and hope you don't burnout/get fired before at least 5 years

I've been through this kind of frustration. There is no magic out. People either have rich generous parents, attend a lower ranked school with large scholarship, or take out a massive amount of loans and eat shit for 10 years to say they have a prestigious JD.
It's a shitty deal.

jbagelboy wrote:I've been through this kind of frustration. There is no magic out. People either have rich generous parents, attend a lower ranked school with large scholarship, or take out a massive amount of loans and eat shit for 10 years to say they have a prestigious JD.
It's a shitty deal.

when are we gonna go full socialist already srsly

anyriotgirl wrote:

jbagelboy wrote:I've been through this kind of frustration. There is no magic out. People either have rich generous parents, attend a lower ranked school with large scholarship, or take out a massive amount of loans and eat shit for 10 years to say they have a prestigious JD.
It's a shitty deal.

when are we gonna go full socialist already srsly

When we choose not to live so damn comfortably.