Living free and far vs. Living close with COL loans Forum

[Tkords]

I start law school next year, but my life has taken a strange turn.
My wife and I just had our son born 3 months early, and in order to cope and have family help available we have moved into my in-law's basement apartment. Where we live now is about an hour away from where I plan on attending law school. My brother who attended the same law school has repeatedly told me how much easier it will be to get good grades if I live close to campus and do not have to commute. This would obviously require that we move into a city apartment that is nearby the school.
I do not expect to be working, especially during the first year, and my wife will likely be too busy with our son given his unique circumstances/health problems. This means that I probably could only afford to live close to school if I took out loans to cover our costs of living. Otherwise I could continue to live where I am at free of charge, but have my daily commute.
My question is whether the convenience of being near campus is worth the cost of taking on more student loan debt? Does it significantly affect my ability to score high marks?

Thanks in advance.

[Hutz_and_Goodman]

People are going to recommend you get an apartment in the city, at least for 1L. I was considering commuting 1.25 hrs and every law student told me this was a bad idea because grades are very important and you are losing 10-15 hrs a week from the commute. In your situation you will also be losing a lot of sleep because of your child.

[anyriotgirl]

Op what are your career goals? I think how much money you will have coming in down the road should be a factor here, especially given that you have a family.

[A. Nony Mouse]

I will add that I commuted about an hour each way all through law school and it was fine. It was actually easier 1L than the other years because I just had classes to deal with, not all the other extracurricular stuff. If you can take public transport, you can even get work done on your commute (although I didn't usually).

Now, depending on how much time your son and his needs will take up when you are at home, maybe you will need all those extra hours, so that's something you will need to consider that wasn't an issue in my case.

The commute initially was really annoying because I did keep thinking about what else I could be doing with that time. But you get used to it. 1L grades are extremely important, but getting good grades isn't contingent on working 70 hours a week or anything. The 10 hours you're commuting shouldn't be the difference between good grades and not good grades because it's not like spending more time necessarily results in better grades.

[barley]

I'm just a 0L with no helpful suggestions, but I just wanted to say congrats on your little boy and I wish him and your family all the best!

[RedGiant]

3L here who is an old. I think you should stay where you are. Your wife and son will need support and will get it there. You will have less financial worries. While you will spend time commuting, you can use it productively. I am an auditory learner, so I listened to Law School Legends/Sum & Substance CDs when I commuted and the Glannon Crim audio guide too. A lot of 1L is learning black letter law. You will do best at this if you know that you need to be efficient.

I would also try to identify a location near your home that's good for studying (cafe, public library, etc.). And I would also talk to your school to explain your commute and your son't circumstances so they understand that there might be emergencies and you'd like to be in the section that is best for commuting, schedule-wise, if they could accomodate. My school certainly does that for 1Ls who live further away.

Best of luck. I have had many friends whose babies started out in the NICU, and they are all lovely children now. You can do this. I would not take out loans when you're going to have tons of medical bills and other worries. Focus on school. The commute might even be a nice mental break between school and home, as long as you don't mind driving. (I've commuted for jobs before and found this to be true.)

Also, if there's a way to take a train, do it. Some of the top kids in my section had long train commutes and they used that time wisely to bust the curve. The commute imparted study discipline. GOOD LUCK!