Top Law Schools

So, I'm trying to figure out my COL on average (I do realize that this will vary from location to location, and I plan to take this into account), but I have never lived alone. It's hard for me to predict how much bills will be.

How much, outside of tuition do you spend? (A breakdown would be helpful, but I realize that's time consuming. Also, I'm particularly interested in hearing from those who live with no room-mates, as that's my plan.)

Sweetneers wrote:So, I'm trying to figure out my COL on average (I do realize that this will vary from location to location, and I plan to take this into account), but I have never lived alone. It's hard for me to predict how much bills will be.

How much, outside of tuition do you spend? (A breakdown would be helpful, but I realize that's time consuming. Also, I'm particularly interested in hearing from those who live with no room-mates, as that's my plan.)

Honestly, this is totally dependent on where you attend law school. If you go to Michigan, for example, you can get a 1 bedroom apartment/studio for a lot cheaper than you'd get a one bedroom/studio if you lived in Chicago, LA, NY, etc.

But on average, you should aim to keep your inclusive spending for everything under $1500 a month. I live in Chicago, live with my SO, and I spend less than $1500 a month on my expenses; but I have an SO who supplements since he works full time. And honestly, like I said above, financial aid offices calculate COL compared to the city where their LS is in so COL is just a totally variant thing.

Way too location dependent to really answer this, but unless you've worked in a professional setting for a while before law school definitely plan on budgeting 3-500 for interview clothes and try to keep an eye out for good sales. Waiting to get this until you absolutely need it, or dressing like a clown, can cost you a lot of extra money.

Whatever the school budgets for COL, plus a few thousand more, is probably a good enough ballpark for what you'll end up spending each year, especially if you're living alone.

Sweetneers wrote:So, I'm trying to figure out my COL on average (I do realize that this will vary from location to location, and I plan to take this into account), but I have never lived alone. It's hard for me to predict how much bills will be.

How much, outside of tuition do you spend? (A breakdown would be helpful, but I realize that's time consuming. Also, I'm particularly interested in hearing from those who live with no room-mates, as that's my plan.)

If you want to cut down on your COL, you should not live alone. My wife and I pay 50% more for our one-bedroom than my friends who are in a 3-bedroom.

BigZuck wrote:Whatever the school budgets for COL, plus a few thousand more, is probably a good enough ballpark for what you'll end up spending each year, especially if you're living alone.

Yeah, but even that doesn't work because you end up with schools like WUSTL that purposely inflate the cost of living for student loan purposes. Set up a mint account, link up your credit cards and bank account, follow it religiously, and scrounge whenever possible (or just keep track of your credit cards and bank account, I just like the convenience of mint). The top-law-schools.com can and should be pretty cheap, no reason to keep up with the jones' in accumulating debt.

Effingham wrote:

BigZuck wrote:Whatever the school budgets for COL, plus a few thousand more, is probably a good enough ballpark for what you'll end up spending each year, especially if you're living alone.

Yeah, but even that doesn't work because you end up with schools like WUSTL that purposely inflate the cost of living for student loan purposes. Set up a mint account, link up your credit cards and bank account, follow it religiously, and scrounge whenever possible (or just keep track of your credit cards and bank account, I just like the convenience of mint). The top-law-schools.com can and should be pretty cheap, no reason to keep up with the jones' in accumulating debt.

Looks like WUSTL budgets about 22K. Maybe a bit on the high side but not really if you're living off it all year. 20ishK is probably about right.

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Hikkomorist wrote:

BigZuck wrote:

Effingham wrote:

BigZuck wrote:Whatever the school budgets for COL, plus a few thousand more, is probably a good enough ballpark for what you'll end up spending each year, especially if you're living alone.

Yeah, but even that doesn't work because you end up with schools like WUSTL that purposely inflate the cost of living for student loan purposes. Set up a mint account, link up your credit cards and bank account, follow it religiously, and scrounge whenever possible (or just keep track of your credit cards and bank account, I just like the convenience of mint). The top-law-schools.com can and should be pretty cheap, no reason to keep up with the jones' in accumulating debt.

Looks like WUSTL budgets about 22K. Maybe a bit on the high side but not really if you're living off it all year. 20ishK is probably about right.

You can definitely manage living there for half that.

Live in a big city in America on 10-11K? Less than $1000 a month? Yikes.

BigZuck wrote:

Effingham wrote:

BigZuck wrote:Whatever the school budgets for COL, plus a few thousand more, is probably a good enough ballpark for what you'll end up spending each year, especially if you're living alone.

Yeah, but even that doesn't work because you end up with schools like WUSTL that purposely inflate the cost of living for student loan purposes. Set up a mint account, link up your credit cards and bank account, follow it religiously, and scrounge whenever possible (or just keep track of your credit cards and bank account, I just like the convenience of mint). The top-law-schools.com can and should be pretty cheap, no reason to keep up with the jones' in accumulating debt.

Looks like WUSTL budgets about 22K. Maybe a bit on the high side but not really if you're living off it all year. 20ishK is probably about right.

I guess my point comes from the fact that I'm sitting in one of the lowest cost of living cities in the world, and no way would someone need to spend 900+ on a one bedroom, but because the budget is there and the loans are freely given, people do it all the time. With that interest, keeping your belt tight early on can really pay off.

OP - if you can name some schools and/or cities, people in this forum can give you a better idea. I also lived alone my first year of LS (regretted it - way cheaper to live with a roomie) and I can tell you how that went, if you want.

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Hikkomorist wrote:
It helps that St. Louis is spectacularly inexpensive.

It's amazing how few people will actually look at craigslist or other outfits to find cheap housing, that's the only real expense you've got aside from one-time issues. Any one that is renting you an apartment based on its proximity to campus or its traditional student affiliation is attempting to screw you.

Effingham wrote:

Hikkomorist wrote:
It helps that St. Louis is spectacularly inexpensive.

It's amazing how few people will actually look at craigslist or other outfits to find cheap housing, that's the only real expense you've got aside from one-time issues. Any one that is renting you an apartment based on its proximity to campus or its traditional student affiliation is attempting to screw you.

Are we considering food and utilities and gasoline and airplane tickets one time expenses or like what's the deal there?

Eta: I mean, it's costing me $500 to fly home for winter break. Maybe it would have cost me $400 if I bought tickets a couple weeks ago. If you live out of state, it's not inconceivable that you fly a few times a year and spend like $1000 on travel alone.

I'm probably just too old and too far removed from "living like a student" but when people say that you can live in a big city for like 10K over the course of a year I just can't wrap my head around how that is possible without some pretty significant sacrifices to your quality of life.

BigZuck wrote:

Effingham wrote:

Hikkomorist wrote:
It helps that St. Louis is spectacularly inexpensive.

It's amazing how few people will actually look at craigslist or other outfits to find cheap housing, that's the only real expense you've got aside from one-time issues. Any one that is renting you an apartment based on its proximity to campus or its traditional student affiliation is attempting to screw you.

Are we considering food and utilities and gasoline and airplane tickets one time expenses or like what's the deal there?

By one-time expenses I meant those that you can't necessarily control. Food is another place that offers a lot of opportunity to save through purchasing groceries and cooking at home rather than eating out (also the tons of free law school food).

And yeah, if you're far out of state flights are obviously going to have to be a consideration. I'm more just trying to stay along the lines of general advice for helping new law students avoid poor decisions regarding debt. Our general advice is to go to school in your target market regardless, which is usually where you are from/have significant ties.

BigZuck wrote:

Effingham wrote:

Hikkomorist wrote:
It helps that St. Louis is spectacularly inexpensive.

It's amazing how few people will actually look at craigslist or other outfits to find cheap housing, that's the only real expense you've got aside from one-time issues. Any one that is renting you an apartment based on its proximity to campus or its traditional student affiliation is attempting to screw you.

Are we considering food and utilities and gasoline and airplane tickets one time expenses or like what's the deal there?

Eta: I mean, it's costing me $500 to fly home for winter break. Maybe it would have cost me $400 if I bought tickets a couple weeks ago. If you live out of state, it's not inconceivable that you fly a few times a year and spend like $1000 on travel alone.

I'm probably just too old and too far removed from "living like a student" but when people say that you can live in a big city for like 10K over the course of a year I just can't wrap my head around how that is possible without some pretty significant sacrifices to your quality of life.

Hikko was probably a little optimistic, but you really can live pretty damn cheaply in St. Louis. I mean, throwing out 600 a month of rent, plus 300 a month on groceries, add in gas for an extra 50 a month, add going out once a week in there for an extra 150 a month, even adding in random extras for 200 a month and you're still only a bit over 15k.

Again, this whole budget is based on being as frugal as possible to reduce that long-term interest. Obviously people will differ here.

This is my biggest concern coming back to the states. I've been able to live off of 300$ USD a month here in China (free housing and very low COL).

20K a year a year most big cities is reasonable for a semi-comfortable style of living. 15k can be said for smaller cities.

A full ride @ a TT vs out of pocket at @ T is a smart choice if you are like me and not interested in biglaw.

60K in loans vs 150K+ is a huge difference.

jchiles wrote:Way too location dependent to really answer this, but unless you've worked in a professional setting for a while before law school definitely plan on budgeting 3-500 for interview clothes and try to keep an eye out for good sales. Waiting to get this until you absolutely need it, or dressing like a clown, can cost you a lot of extra money.

If you're a woman, you can budget way less than $300. More like $60.

dumdeedum wrote:

jchiles wrote:Way too location dependent to really answer this, but unless you've worked in a professional setting for a while before law school definitely plan on budgeting 3-500 for interview clothes and try to keep an eye out for good sales. Waiting to get this until you absolutely need it, or dressing like a clown, can cost you a lot of extra money.

If you're a woman, you can budget way less than $300. More like $60.

$60 for interview clothes? Women spend a ton of $$$ on clothes (and shoes, and hair-cuts, and make-up) Maybe if you're reeeeeally thrifty and you got it at Ross.

seashell.economy wrote:

dumdeedum wrote:

jchiles wrote:Way too location dependent to really answer this, but unless you've worked in a professional setting for a while before law school definitely plan on budgeting 3-500 for interview clothes and try to keep an eye out for good sales. Waiting to get this until you absolutely need it, or dressing like a clown, can cost you a lot of extra money.

If you're a woman, you can budget way less than $300. More like $60.

$60 for interview clothes? Women spend a ton of $$$ on clothes (and shoes, and hair-cuts, and make-up) Maybe if you're reeeeeally thrifty and you got it at Ross.

I don't know how much women do or don't actually spend, but I'm at a job that requires suiting and bought three colors at H&M for $200-210-ish. $30-ish for a structured blazer, $10-20 for matching slacks, and button-downs/tank tops of assorted prices. It's not that there's no difference between H&M and the next option up, but there's really no way for someone else to know the difference. My recruiter told me it was the best option, and she wasn't wrong.

Edit: Express also has sales frequently for $75 off $200, et cetera.

I spent way more than $60 on interview clothes. I guess in theory it's possible, but H&M isn't an option for everyone or what everyone wants.

dumdeedum wrote:

seashell.economy wrote:

dumdeedum wrote:

jchiles wrote:Way too location dependent to really answer this, but unless you've worked in a professional setting for a while before law school definitely plan on budgeting 3-500 for interview clothes and try to keep an eye out for good sales. Waiting to get this until you absolutely need it, or dressing like a clown, can cost you a lot of extra money.

If you're a woman, you can budget way less than $300. More like $60.

$60 for interview clothes? Women spend a ton of $$$ on clothes (and shoes, and hair-cuts, and make-up) Maybe if you're reeeeeally thrifty and you got it at Ross.

I don't know how much women do or don't actually spend, but I'm at a job that requires suiting and bought three colors at H&M for $200-210-ish. $30-ish for a structured blazer, $10-20 for matching slacks, and button-downs/tank tops of assorted prices. It's not that there's no difference between H&M and the next option up, but there's really no way for someone else to know the difference. My recruiter told me it was the best option, and she wasn't wrong.

Edit: Express also has sales frequently for $75 off $200, et cetera.

No offense but H&M and express clothes are made cheaply and fall apart quickly. I would suggest as a law student you invest in something a little sturdier/more professional.

Then again, I spent/spend a lot of money - often inadvertently - as a law student.

I just meant that, at least if you're a woman, you don't have to buy a $500 suit before you actually get a job. I grabbed a nice one after I was making money, but I still feel inclined to wear the H&M more often because they're more forgiving. But of curiosity, are you a guy, jbagelboy? A lot of professional women who wear suits every day have at least a couple H&M items in rotation, and Express is HUGELY popular for office wear, too.

There's also a pretty big range between H&M and a $500 suit, though. There are other alternatives.