Experience of Canadians at U.S. Schools Financing Themselves Forum

[toothless_canadian]

I am Canadian and hoping to get some perspectives and advice on ways to help finance a law degree in the U.S. given (from what I've researched on the forums) lenders in the US require an American co-signer, and we are not eligible for federal lending programs.

I have some savings and a bit financing from a Canadian institution, but it'll only cover about first year tuition + CoL at any of the t14.

Any recommendations from Canadians who are (or who have) attended law school on any possible avenues for assistance?

Thanks so much in advance!

[Mal Reynolds]

Meth

[cinephile]

A handful of top schools offer their own law school financing. Maybe just HYS. Not quite sure.

[Tom Joad]

The ABA doesn't allow first year law students to work, but you might be able to get a part time job the other years.

[kkdk]

Canada Student Loans list nearly every US Law School worth going to as eligible institutions to study at while receiving assistance from the Canadian gov't. Canadian banks also offer student lines of credit/student loans for study at foreign universities. You should have a few options to look at...

[serdog]

The correct Answer only go to a US school as a Canadian if
1) You Plan on working in the US and;
2) You can attend a school worth going to
Poor reasons for making the choice
1) ______ is so prestigious,
2) I can't get into a Canadian Law School
3)I can get alot of money at this school or
4) Coley sounds alot better the UofS

I know this is off topic but there a reason why the Average Canadian law Grad is in a MUCH better place then the average US law grad

[str8yolked]

Im on the same boat so feel free to pm me.

I'm on the West coast so the following may be different depending on your province.

The government will provide you with some loans, but it only covers a fraction of COA. I think ~12-18k/yr, I forgot the actual number.

Canadian banks will only lend you ~18k/yr. This is a set limit.

You can get a US loan if you have a US co-signer.

You can get a line of credit, but your parents need to have enough assists to qualify. If not, you can borrow money from family to qualify.

Other than that we're pretty much screwed.

[Nova]

The ABA doesn't allow first year law students to work, but you might be able to get a part time job the other years.

You can actually work up to 20 hrs a week during 1L

But that would really suck

[patogordo]

america is a TTT in decline

run away

[sighsigh]

Private Canadian banks will lend to you (e.g. TD will loan you up to 80k total http://www.tdcanadatrust.com/products-s ... stline.jsp). I have to imagine that they will lend for US law schools as well as Canadian ones, assuming the school you attend is at least somewhat respectable.

The federal and provincial government may lend to you. For example, OSAP (Ontario student loan program) will lend to you if you attend a US school that has been approved by them. You can search the list of approved schools here: http://www.ontario.ca/education-and-tra ... r-overseas (e.g. I searched for Georgetown and found they approve Georgetown University Law Center specifically). I wouldn't expect much here, though (probably <50k total).

Be VERY careful with taking out loans in the US. In Canada it's my understanding that student loan debt is completely dischargeable whether public or private (no tax bomb or w/e) after seven years have passed since your last enrollment in an academic institution. As you probably know, private US student loan debt isn't dischargable in bankruptcy at all, and public (government) US student loan debt is only dischargable if you are on a government loan repayment program like PAYE. I'd have to guess that as a Canadian 1.) you won't be able to discharge the US portion of your debt if you declare bankruptcy in Canada, and 2.) you won't have access to public US loans and so won't have access to US government repayment programs like PAYE. A lot of the Americans on this board make the decisions they do because their loans are 100% public and so they have PAYE to fall back on if things don't work out. Remember that you don't have that.

The correct Answer only go to a US school as a Canadian if
1) You Plan on working in the US and;
2) You can attend a school worth going to
Poor reasons for making the choice
1) ______ is so prestigious,
2) I can't get into a Canadian Law School
3)I can get alot of money at this school or
4) Coley sounds alot better the UofS

This is well said. Basically, there are VERY few scenarios that warrant going to the US. I'd also add 5.) "I can make more money in the US because biglaw salaries are a glittering 160k." That kind of thinking was what originally attracted me to this board, but I will say that post-2008 if you are paying anything even remotely approaching sticker cost at a US law school, you will actually make more in Canadian biglaw.