How much debt will u owe upon graduation of law school? Forum

[Renzo]

what is the tax break for student loan payments? I think you only get a deduction equal to your payments if your gross income is less than 50k or something.

You mean the student loan interests,right? But how about the student loans?

You may be able to deduct interest you pay on a qualified student loan.You can claim the deduction if all of the following apply:

You paid interest on a qualified student loan in tax year 2009
Your filing status is not married filing separately
Your modified adjusted gross income is less than $70,000 ($145,000 if filing jointly)

[jrwhitedog]

what is the tax break for student loan payments? I think you only get a deduction equal to your payments if your gross income is less than 50k or something.

You mean the student loan interests,right? But how about the student loans?

You may be able to deduct interest you pay on a qualified student loan.You can claim the deduction if all of the following apply:

You paid interest on a qualified student loan in tax year 2009
Your filing status is not married filing separately
Your modified adjusted gross income is less than $70,000 ($145,000 if filing jointly)

You still didn't answer my question. I know about the interest, but is the whole loan deductible or just the tuition or none of them?

[Oban]

I'll be about 110k in debt, but this does not include potential 2L summer off set, etc.

If i don't get a decent job, i'm one of those people who doesn't mind paying the minimum monthly payment the rest of my life. I'm also don't plan on buying a home or getting married ANY time soon. I've kind of lived by the "Die Broke" philosophy for most of my adult life, so i could easily live on the 40k left after payments and such,

if it gets bad i'll just flee the country or something,


anyway i think there will some big student loan bailouts in the future, the student loan bubble is inevitable

[Renzo]

You still didn't answer my question. I know about the interest, but is the whole loan deductible or just the tuition or none of them?

Just the interest is deductible. You can take the hope or lifetime credits while in school, but otherwise tuition payments have no tax privilege.

[motiontodismiss]

Probably zero.

[jrwhitedog]

You still didn't answer my question. I know about the interest, but is the whole loan deductible or just the tuition or none of them?

Just the interest is deductible. You can take the hope or lifetime credits while in school, but otherwise tuition payments have no tax privilege.

Man, I thought the USA was better than Canada.

[JazzOne]

You still didn't answer my question. I know about the interest, but is the whole loan deductible or just the tuition or none of them?

Just the interest is deductible. You can take the hope or lifetime credits while in school, but otherwise tuition payments have no tax privilege.

Are you sure about that Renzo? I seem to recall deducting my tuition in the past, but I could be wrong. I'm talking about deducting tuition for that year, not years later when you're paying off the loans.

[fosterp]

Tuition expenses are deductible from your income.

The tax credits are different than deductions. Credits will be applied to your tax liability. Deductions will reduce your taxable income.

I'm not sure how it works in the case of loans. I am pretty sure you can only claim them in the year you actually went to school, so its only really a benefit if your someone working while in school because you actually have taxes to pay.

Could be wrong though.

[crazycanuck]

I'll be about 110k in debt, but this does not include potential 2L summer off set, etc.

If i don't get a decent job, i'm one of those people who doesn't mind paying the minimum monthly payment the rest of my life. I'm also don't plan on buying a home or getting married ANY time soon. I've kind of lived by the "Die Broke" philosophy for most of my adult life, so i could easily live on the 40k left after payments and such,

How old are you?

[beachbum]

If everything goes according to plan (EDing at Duke), I'll probably be up around $200k when all is said and done. Yeah, I'm one of those guys.

[General Tso]

You still didn't answer my question. I know about the interest, but is the whole loan deductible or just the tuition or none of them?

Just the interest is deductible. You can take the hope or lifetime credits while in school, but otherwise tuition payments have no tax privilege.

do the hope and lifetime credits have to be repaid?

[JazzOne]

Tuition expenses are deductible from your income.

The tax credits are different than deductions. Credits will be applied to your tax liability. Deductions will reduce your taxable income.

I'm not sure how it works in the case of loans. I am pretty sure you can only claim them in the year you actually went to school, so its only really a benefit if your someone working while in school because you actually have taxes to pay.

Could be wrong though.

If you're fortunate enough to get an SA position, then you'll have income and tuition in the same year. Thanks for the clarification though. I thought the interest was also a deduction.

[homestyle28]

You still didn't answer my question. I know about the interest, but is the whole loan deductible or just the tuition or none of them?

Just the interest is deductible. You can take the hope or lifetime credits while in school, but otherwise tuition payments have no tax privilege.

do the hope and lifetime credits have to be repaid?

No. And to answer some other tax related questions asked above. In any year in which you pay tuition to an accredited school you can either claim the lifelong learning credit (which is calculated by multiplying qualified expenses x.2 and is capped at $2000) or you can claim a deduction for qualified expenses (this is capped at a $4000 tax burden reduction), but not both. In general, you have to have a lot of income/high tax burden for the deduction to be more worthwhile than the credit. Also, any interest for student loans is deductible (but as noted above, subject to income caps).

For your reading pleasure: http://www.irs.gov/publications/p970/

[3|ink]

This should definitely be a poll. You should also specify whether or not to include all debt (i.e. undergrad, law school, and credit card) or just law school debt.

Yeah, but my problem is that I've paid off my undergraduate loans but definitely can't afford law school tuition.

$210k+. Not joking. Hooray for good LRAPs!

'bout $230 for me. Hooray for the most expensive school in the country.

Is that GW?

[bdubs]

'bout $230 for me. Hooray for the most expensive school in the country.

Is that GW?

I think that Cornell earns the honors of most expensive law school in the country ($48,950/yr). Followed closely by Yale ($48,340), Boalt out-of-state ($48,152) and Columbia ($48,004). Although over 3 years with living expenses I would guess that Columbia is the most expensive school overall.

Edit: These are all from USNWR and are for 2009. I am too lazy to look up the 2010 numbers.

[GettingReady2010]

According the U.S. News Ultimate Guide to Law Schools (it's about 2 years old), University of Chicago Law students graduate with the most debt (~114k on average), while Howard students graduate with the least (~9k on average).

[Aqualibrium]

According the U.S. News Ultimate Guide to Law Schools (it's about 2 years old), University of Chicago Law students graduate with the most debt (~114k on average), while Howard students graduate with the least (~9k on average).

I don't see how the Howard stat is possible though...I got a full ride plus stipend at Howard, and it would still have cost me more than 60k over three years just to live in DC according to the school's COL calculations.

[Paichka]

$0 of monetary debt, but 6 years of time owed to the Army. It all balances, I suppose.

[JazzOne]

$0 of monetary debt, but 6 years of time owed to the Army. It all balances, I suppose.

If you have a guaranteed job after graduation, then you are far, far ahead of most.

[MrKappus]

170 if frugal
140 if I win the 1L SA lottery
190 if Saks keeps tricking into buying clothes I do not need

I somehow doubt you'll have a $0 tax burden and will spend every last 1L SA dollar on school. Just a hunch.

[GettingReady2010]

$0 of monetary debt, but 6 years of time owed to the Army. It all balances, I suppose.

Does the GI Bill pick up law school?

[Renzo]

'bout $230 for me. Hooray for the most expensive school in the country.

Is that GW?

I think that Cornell earns the honors of most expensive law school in the country ($48,950/yr). Followed closely by Yale ($48,340), Boalt out-of-state ($48,152) and Columbia ($48,004). Although over 3 years with living expenses I would guess that Columbia is the most expensive school overall.

Edit: These are all from USNWR and are for 2009. I am too lazy to look up the 2010 numbers.

Last time Iooked, it was Cornell by tuition and NYU by total cost. CLS's tuition is higher, but the Village is more expensive.

[jrwhitedog]

It seems to me it's better not to get in debt over 100k cause that's already gonna take 5 years if you repay 25k per year for a interest rate of 7.9% which means you are paying 1 addition year just for the interest.

[Paichka]

$0 of monetary debt, but 6 years of time owed to the Army. It all balances, I suppose.

Does the GI Bill pick up law school?

I think so, but I'm in school on a different program. I'm an active duty army officer. In exchane for 6 years of service, the army is sending me to law school. It'll really end up being more than 6 years, as I'll be so close to my 20 by the time my commitment is up, but all told it's a great program. Particularly ITE, I know how lucky I was to get picked up for it.

[whymeohgodno]

TOO MUCH