Undergrad hitting road block

[buterflikises]

I have been accepted to UNK next fall and having a hard time finding scholarship money...any ideas??  Single mom, adult-nontrad./pre-law...I have looked literally everywhere it seems and hit a wall...open to any suggestions.  Thanks a lot

[justanothersucker]

student loans.

[justanothersucker]

please don't take this wrong, but was it really late when you typed your name?

Did you mean "butterflykisses"?

[buterflikises]

I appreciate your suggestion but I am trying to use student loans as a last resort.  Also no it wasn't late, I am just a little extraordinary in naming myself.  I am really just trying to get some ideas where to look for grants and scholarships, because the few places I have found are really lame and just trying to gather info.  But really, thanks for replying.

[FalconJimmy]

I appreciate your suggestion but I am trying to use student loans as a last resort.  Also no it wasn't late, I am just a little extraordinary in naming myself.  I am really just trying to get some ideas where to look for grants and scholarships, because the few places I have found are really lame and just trying to gather info.  But really, thanks for replying.

Although it was curt and followed with a somewhat odd question, student loans are what you need to be looking at.  Honestly, if you don't think you can take on $60K in student loan debt and pay it off as an attorney, then you really shouldn't be an attorney.  My last car loan was for something like $45,000.  I got 6 years to pay it off. 

Like you, I shunned student loans for most of my life.  It was nice, but the bottom line is if that's the only way to pay for law school, that's the only way to pay for law school.  Period.  End of story.  How bad do you want it?  Despite what some folks say, there isn't this treasure trove of unclaimed scholarship money out there just waiting for people to access it.  The few scholarships that go unclaimed are usually not for a lot of money, anyway.

If you want to be an attorney, you should want to be a successful one and successful ones tend to be well-paid. 

If you don't want to make the sacrifices, you won't get to be an attorney.  Pretty much, it's as simple as that. 

[Duncanjp]

FalconJimmy is right. I don't mean to be harsh, but if you really want to be an attorney, then instead of hoping that somebody else will pay your freight, you should be smart enough and creative enough to find a way to pay for it yourself.

[Hamilton]

As a single mom you should be thinking seriously about the sacrifice you and your family will be making.  You will be giving up about $100K of family treasure/resources and a good 3+ years with your child/children... are you prepared for that?  I would be asking whether I REALLY need to go to law school.

[fortook]

The only complete way of doing this is to get good numbers, real good numbers and go to a school (in a lower tier like Cooley) that offers you most of the money.  I have known people who got a full tuition scholarship, but never anyone who had a full scholarship plus living expenses.  So even best case, high scholarship scenario, you will still need to take out loans to live off of.

People used to get employers who offer loan reimbursement to pay for it, but this perk has been declining because  grad tuition, law school tuition in particular, has gotten so high now.  People still do it, but a time investment of working there before and after is involved.

Loans suck, but are the only real option for most people because the financial numbers involved are so high.