Paying for Law School, your thoughts?

[newkirk101]

How is everyone paying for law school?  Correct me if I'm wrong but most people take out enormous subsidized and unsibsidized loans and postpone working.  Theoretically, this means that the loans will pay rent, food, leisure, etc. Correct?

In addition, do subsidized and unsubsidized federal (or state) loans adequately provide the needed funds or do most students also seek private loans?  Sorry this is so long.

[rtqw]

Yes, loans can be used to cover living expenses. Schools will have a living expenses budget   as part of the cost of attendance. For example, Michigan's tuition is $41,950. Living expenses are $15,000 (although this can be increased for health care costs). The total cost of attendance is $56,950. The total amount of scholarships/grants + loans cannot exceed this amount.

You can take out a total of $20,500 of stafford loans (federal govt loans, subsidized and unsubsidized). For the rest, it seems that most students these days are now opting for federal GradPLUS loans instead of private loans (where the credit requirements are more stringent) These loans are unsubsidized and carry a higher interest rate than the stafford loans, but you are permitted to take out enough loans to cover the cost of attendance. Depending on what state you live in/go to school in, there may also be state loan programs to cover the remaining gap.

[nealric]

My strategy is to do law school part time. Loans for tuition, work for living expenses.

[anon8558]

I was lucky enough to get an extremely generous scholarship/grant offer that takes a huge chunk out of the tuition I'm going to have to pay, but I will still have to take out loans for some living expenses.  It definitely gives me motivation to live cheap in order to graduate with as little debt as possible.  I also have a renewed faith in the financial aid system to help out those who really need it - I honestly just always assumed I would be forced to take out loans to cover the entire cost of attendance.

I also took a year off and worked 2 jobs in order to completely pay off my credit card/any other debt, and save up a decent chunk of money for living expenses.  The thought of starting school with the $1000 or so I had in savings when I graduated last year was completely terrifying.

Random question pertaining to loans - I am planning on taking out about $20K in loans to cover living expenses, which is more than I think I will need.  If I have money left over at the end of the year, does anyone know if it's possible to immediately pay it back in order to minimize having unnecessary debt?  If it makes a difference, I will be taking out a combination of subsidized/unsubsidized Stafford loans.  I am planning on putting them into an ING direct account at 4.5% interest in the meantime to minimize the difference in the interest I will be paying on the loans, and what they are accruing.

[Pops]

Random question pertaining to loans - I am planning on taking out about $20K in loans to cover living expenses, which is more than I think I will need.  If I have money left over at the end of the year, does anyone know if it's possible to immediately pay it back in order to minimize having unnecessary debt?  If it makes a difference, I will be taking out a combination of subsidized/unsubsidized Stafford loans.  I am planning on putting them into an ING direct account at 4.5% interest in the meantime to minimize the difference in the interest I will be paying on the loans, and what they are accruing.

I don't think you can pay it back right then, but you can adjust your next years allowance.  For example you take out $20K this year and find you only need $15.  Well next year you could take only 15 (to give you some wiggle room) which would give you a total of 20 or you could just get 10 (added to your 5 left over) for a total of 15.

Haha, I'm doing the same thing with ING.  I figure it will save up some good size change over my regular old savings account.  For those who may not know: I (or any ING account holder) can "refer a friend" to ING and as long as you deposit $250, you will get a "thank you" bonus of $25 (I will also get $10 so it is win-win).  If anyone would like to take part in it, send me a personal email, and I'll refer them.  The current interest rate on an ING account is 4.5%, which is way more than any other local/national bank.

[Kittyl30]

living with your student budget sucks.  but tat might have been b/c myapt was kind of expensive

however, i do have a scholarship (15k) and im giong to be an RA for the freshman next year which is free room and board.

but even with all that im STILL taking out 27k!! (but only 6.5k in private the rest are fed loans)

how depressing