Poll: How much debt do you plan to exit law school with? Forum

[Roseland]

I am weighing my options and curious what the TLS crowd is thinking for themselves?

[Kiersten1985]

Including UG debt?

[Roseland]

Law School Only...the scale only goes to 200K!

[thickfreakness]

Fortunately my wife will be able to cover the overwhelming majority of COL, so given my current scholarship options I'm thinking only around 50 to 60K if I can pay down a tad of it with 2L summer earnings.

[annapavlova]

Oh good!

Another one of these threads.

[Roseland]

Oh good!

Another one of these threads.

Glad I could help

[darknightbegins]

I'm expecting 70K or so. Some of this depends if I get in state tuition rates after the first year in the state school I'll be going to. If I do get in state tuition that figure is closer to 50K. I have no undergrad debt so I am willing to go into more debt than 70K if necessary but I am not willing to go into six figure debt.

[MURPH]

GI Bill + Yellow Ribbon Scholarship + wife working + renting out my home in Honolulu while I move the family to law school somewhere on the continent + working summers and winter break = zero debt (maybe)

[keg411]

Chose 75k in the poll, but it will likely be somewhere between 50 and 75.

[kissy]

$0


thanks mom & dad

[weis14]

Took full scholarship offer to minimize debt. 50k or less COL.

[darknightbegins]

$0


thanks mom & dad

Very nice. My parents will likely help me pay off the debt once I get out of school if I really have a difficult time.

[09042014]

230 if I don't get any any paid firm jobs.

[digitalcntrl]

$0

My employer pays for all of it.

[OperaSoprano]

$220k by my nearest guess. At any rate, a lot.

[pu_golf88]

I got lucky in the my parents have always been saving for me and my brother's education. Anything short of a Ph.D. I don't have to pay for.

[fl0w]

75k because of cost of living. can't really avoid it unless you're still attached to the teet.

[wadeny]

I'm surprised by how many responded with $150K or less for the poll. Tuition is obviously high at most schools, but the COL is also insanely high. Unless people are opting for more lower-priced options, have a lot of $$$ saved up, are getting some good scholarships, etc., I have to imagine debt would creep closer to $200k in many cases. I guess not as much around here, though, which is great to see.

[Kim617]

I'm surprised by how many responded with $150K or less for the poll. Tuition is obviously high at most schools, but the COL is also insanely high. Unless people are opting for more lower-priced options, have a lot of $$$ saved up, are getting some good scholarships, etc., I have to imagine debt would creep closer to $200k in many cases. I guess not as much around here, though, which is great to see.

I was expecting about $200,000, but then I got a nice offer today that will lower it to about $130,000, and I figure I could take a little off that number since I already have insurance, and I have awesome parents that will help with groceries and such, so maybe $120,000 total. Something like that.

[84Sunbird2000]

No more than 75k (unless I go to BU....). If I got a firm job 2L (I could do it for a summer without feeling like I'd sold my soul) and made 15-30k that year, then I could get out of IUB with 10-25k in debt. W&M I'm guessing 35-50k. W&L about 40k. Worst case, I could still make 3 or 4k during the summers with a PI fellowship.

I know that going to the best school you get (at sticker) is the TLS advice, but I like less than triple-digit debt prospects.

[A'nold]

No more than 75k (unless I go to BU....). If I got a firm job 2L (I could do it for a summer without feeling like I'd sold my soul) and made 15-30k that year, then I could get out of IUB with 10-25k in debt. W&M I'm guessing 35-50k. W&L about 40k. Worst case, I could still make 3 or 4k during the summers with a PI fellowship.

I know that going to the best school you get (at sticker) is the TLS advice, but I like less than triple-digit debt prospects.

If you aren't planning on going into biglaw and want to go into public interest/gov. work, why on earth would you use 2L summer $ to pay down your loans?

[weis14]

I'm surprised by how many responded with $150K or less for the poll. Tuition is obviously high at most schools, but the COL is also insanely high. Unless people are opting for more lower-priced options, have a lot of $$$ saved up, are getting some good scholarships, etc., I have to imagine debt would creep closer to $200k in many cases. I guess not as much around here, though, which is great to see.

Two years ago when i first started thinking about law school, I would not have had concerns about 200k in debt. Luckily, I got nice scholarships from lower ranked schools. A lower ranked school with better scholarships is a better choice for me. I would have been very stressed out knowing that I was going that far into debt for school. 50k is no more than a nice car.

[84Sunbird2000]

No more than 75k (unless I go to BU....). If I got a firm job 2L (I could do it for a summer without feeling like I'd sold my soul) and made 15-30k that year, then I could get out of IUB with 10-25k in debt. W&M I'm guessing 35-50k. W&L about 40k. Worst case, I could still make 3 or 4k during the summers with a PI fellowship.

I know that going to the best school you get (at sticker) is the TLS advice, but I like less than triple-digit debt prospects.

If you aren't planning on going into biglaw and want to go into public interest/gov. work, why on earth would you use 2L summer $ to pay down your loans?

Because I have a wide range of interests, and I can't guarantee myself that I'll be in PI/Gov't for 10 consecutive years. By then I might be living in Sweden or in Faro, Yukon....who knows. PI/Gov't a hope/plan, but I really don't know what I'm going to be doing in 2023, and I think that's probably true of most people.

[r6_philly]

I am mentally prepared to handle $2000 a month in repayments on top of the $500 a month I will be paying for UG debt. So $150k is my target. Unless I receive a named scholarship or two

[dakatz]

It would be about 50K at most out of BU, and over 200K at Chicago. Debt scares me...