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My grandfather recently offered to loan me the extra 150k I need for law school, and he wouldn't charge me interest. Would this be worth doing if I don't know what kind of law I want to practice? If I took out federal loans, then I would have a chance of LRAP. If I do this, then I won't be able to have my loans forgiven or paid off. What do people think?

do it

Before you do it, negotiate a repayment plan that would work for you no matter if you're in public interest or the private sector. It would be very foolish to let this opportunity slide by.

Tempo wrote:My grandfather recently offered to loan me the extra 150k I need for law school, and he wouldn't charge me interest. Would this be worth doing if I don't know what kind of law I want to practice? If I took out federal loans, then I would have a chance of LRAP. If I do this, then I won't be able to have my loans forgiven or paid off. What do people think?

Propose this to your grandfather - table the 150k offer for three years. Do your time in school, and if you pursue an LRAP eligible career, then decline the loan. If not, take the loan at that point to pay off your federal loans and pay him back instead. There would be some accrued interest over your time in school, but I would say that's worth it as a reasonable balance.

Holodigm wrote:

Tempo wrote:My grandfather recently offered to loan me the extra 150k I need for law school, and he wouldn't charge me interest. Would this be worth doing if I don't know what kind of law I want to practice? If I took out federal loans, then I would have a chance of LRAP. If I do this, then I won't be able to have my loans forgiven or paid off. What do people think?

Propose this to your grandfather - table the 150k offer for three years. Do your time in school, and if you pursue an LRAP eligible career, then decline the loan. If not, take the loan at that point to pay off your federal loans and pay him back instead. There would be some accrued interest over your time in school, but I would say that's worth it as a reasonable balance.

That's a very good idea. I'll talk to him about that, thanks.

Tempo wrote:

Holodigm wrote:

Tempo wrote:My grandfather recently offered to loan me the extra 150k I need for law school, and he wouldn't charge me interest. Would this be worth doing if I don't know what kind of law I want to practice? If I took out federal loans, then I would have a chance of LRAP. If I do this, then I won't be able to have my loans forgiven or paid off. What do people think?

Propose this to your grandfather - table the 150k offer for three years. Do your time in school, and if you pursue an LRAP eligible career, then decline the loan. If not, take the loan at that point to pay off your federal loans and pay him back instead. There would be some accrued interest over your time in school, but I would say that's worth it as a reasonable balance.

That's a very good idea. I'll talk to him about that, thanks.

Better option would be to take the loan and stick it in a 2/3 year CD (or have him do that for you b/c taxes). Same flexibility to just pay it back if you go PI and the interest will be negligible with the gains from the CD.

Nagster5 wrote:

Tempo wrote:

Holodigm wrote:

Tempo wrote:My grandfather recently offered to loan me the extra 150k I need for law school, and he wouldn't charge me interest. Would this be worth doing if I don't know what kind of law I want to practice? If I took out federal loans, then I would have a chance of LRAP. If I do this, then I won't be able to have my loans forgiven or paid off. What do people think?

Propose this to your grandfather - table the 150k offer for three years. Do your time in school, and if you pursue an LRAP eligible career, then decline the loan. If not, take the loan at that point to pay off your federal loans and pay him back instead. There would be some accrued interest over your time in school, but I would say that's worth it as a reasonable balance.

That's a very good idea. I'll talk to him about that, thanks.

Better option would be to take the loan and stick it in a 2/3 year CD (or have him do that for you b/c taxes). Same flexibility to just pay it back if you go PI and the interest will be negligible with the gains from the CD.

I like this idea, but CD rates are still abysmal; a 1% return (if you're lucky) won't do much stacked against APRs of 5 or 6%. Maybe consult a financial adviser. But nagster's got the right idea.

Is this one of those "wink, wink" things where you won't really have to pay off the loan in the end or will you actually have to pay it off? Like, would you be paying it to his estate or something if he passed away?

BigZuck wrote:Is this one of those "wink, wink" things where you won't really have to pay off the loan in the end or will you actually have to pay it off? Like, would you be paying it to his estate or something if he passed away?

That's a good question, but I'm treating this as a real loan that I would have to pay off.

Another plus in the maybe-take-it-after-three-years is the (admittedly very slim) chance that you get seriously ill or die or something,

This is not a significant concern, but a small plus that the family gets the federal loans forgiven (not sure about serious illness, I have different loans than US federal ones)