Seattle v. Gonzaga ($) v. Dayton ($$)

[CoxlessPair]

I'm posting this one on behalf of a friend and wanted to pass on any input you all have on to her.

Admitted to Seattle U (no money), Gonzaga w/ $7,500 a year, and Dayton w/ $16,000 a year.

Gonzaga scholarship is based on keeping a 2.75 GPA w/ a 2.86 1L median. Dayton requires her  :-Xto stay in the top 40%.

Wildcard is that she really is not sure how she wants to use her JD. Former active duty Army Military Intelligence officer, now reserve and working as an intel contractor. Primary goal is to return to the Army as a JAG, but may have an injury that will result in that not being possible. Secondary goals are all non-BigLaw oriented but BigFedGovt is on the radar along with state/local govt as a DA. May also pursue in-house work with intel contractors.

Significant cash savings will allow her to pay for almost all of her JD out of pocket but is a bit risk adverse to spending her entire savings on a law degree. No connection to the Dayton or Ohio area, just somewhere she got in with a lot of money. Regionally wants to end up either in Alaska or Washington State.

Thanks in advance LSDers.     

[MikePing]

IMO, this sounds like a decision that can be based on the cost of law school.  If she is not interested in the more-competitive jobs (BigFirm, etc...), location of school is less significant.  JAG Corp. is going to put you where they want you, so I couldn't imagine much of a difference as far as they are concerned. 

Also, she can spend her summers interning in the local DA's office in WA, which should give a sufficient connection to lead to some job opportunities. 

If I were her, I would figure out the actual cost (after $) of each school, including living expenses.  She should also consider borrowing whatever money she needs, because many of the types of jobs she is interested in will offer loan repayment assistance--which makes her education even cheaper.  So long as she sticks to the federal loans, she can get the money at a low interest rate and qualify for a consolidation that would result in a low monthly payment.