Top Law Schools

How much debt is manageable from a TT (COL + tuition), assuming you get a job after graduation?

- I realize that it is risky to assume that you will in fact get a job after graduation, but can you base your answers on this assumption.
-manageable, not desirable.
- My lowest answer is 45k. That assumes a full-ride + 15k/year for COL, which seems realistic.

It's hard to tell because it really depends on the salary of the the job. Also, this would be your total debt correct (includes undergraduate loans, etc)?

bne wrote:It's hard to tell because it really depends on the salary of the the job. Also, this would be your total debt correct (includes undergraduate loans, etc)?

Yeah. No previous debt. Only 4k in savings. I'd like to go into criminal law, working for the government. Clearly my salary wouldn't be that high. On the other hand, the school I'm most likely going to has a great handle on it's market. If I do well, I'm fairly confident I can have a job lined up at graduation. If I don't do well (outside of the top third), I plan on dropping out.

Depends on the TT. But I would say 60k would be close to the limit for most schools.

tfleming09 wrote:I think you can borrow up to what you reasonably expect to make your first year out. So if you expect to make 60K out, borrow up to 60K.

This depends on other factors, obviously. Also make sure you factor in interest. That shit compounds while you have no way to pay it back since interest starts accruing the second you take loans out.

Great avatar tfleming! I love that movie.

As always, take the rankings in stride. The job prospects vis-a-vis debt incurred at, say, SMU, is a world of difference from Hofstra.

If we're talking about the "purer" TT schools, then yeah, general consensus is on the money; however, the best schools in TT evoke a "tier 1.5" status in terms of job prospects, and would therefore warrant a little more willingness to incur debt.

Calchexas wrote:As always, take the rankings in stride. The job prospects vis-a-vis debt incurred at, say, SMU, is a world of difference from Hofstra.

If we're talking about the "purer" TT schools, then yeah, general consensus is on the money; however, #s 51-60 (maybe even 61-65) kind of evoke a "tier 1.5" status in terms of job prospects.

No

Yes.

There is certainly variation in a group that consists of 50 schools, I concede that. But your suggestion that schools #50-65 represent "Tier 1.5" is arbitrary and misleading.

tfleming09 wrote:I think you can borrow up to what you reasonably expect to make your first year out. So if you expect to make 60K out, borrow up to 60K.

This depends on other factors, obviously. Also make sure you factor in interest. That shit compounds while you have no way to pay it back since interest starts accruing the second you take loans out.

This.

bobbyh1919 wrote:There is certainly variation in a group that consists of 50 schools, I concede that. But your suggestion that schools #50-65 represent "Tier 1.5" is arbitrary and misleading.

You kinda ninja'd my editing job on the post: I realized (and now concede) that specifically defining 50-65 as "tier 1.5" is inaccurate, but didn't get the edit in before your post. So yeah, I understand you taking issue with that lol. ;]

Still, the main point I was trying to get at was that the line gets kind of blurred when you get to the highest end of TT. And because the line gets blurred at some point, the definition of how much is too much also blurs.

I think most importantly it just matters on the situation. I'm from NJ and have never set foot in Texas. For me, a full ride to (T2 Texas school) wouldn't make a whole lot of sense. Rutgers though, maybe I'd go for a half ride. Just an example, but there cannot be a generic answer to how much debt is too much debt.