In the open thread, someone provided a great topic for a Sidebar. We are always asking what is in your wallet. Salaries are one of the things that not many people talk about, but everyone wants to know.
This week, instead of finding out how much you make, we want to find out how much you owe. How much did your law school education cost? How much do you owe in student loans? Do you have a mountain of debt that makes your stomach turn at night? If you are so bold, tell us your law school, or whether you went to a public or private school. Do you regret using student loans?
I guess I lucked out. I graduated from Boyd with under $50K in debt. Most of it was for living expenses while in school. With a decent salary, law school was a great investment.
ReplyDeleteI went to University of Oregon and graduated with about $60k of debt (all federal loans). It's consolidated at about 3% over 25 years and I pay about $250 a month.
ReplyDeleteWell... the loans for school are nothing compared to what I owe my wife for letting me go to law school.
ReplyDeleteEast coast school. About $160k. Payments are $1,500/mo. I have interest rates from 3% to 8.5%.
ReplyDeleteI have 40k from undergrad and 90k from law school. Both private schools. Plus, my wife is currently a stay at home mom and I am paying her 50k undergrad debt. So in total: 180k.
ReplyDeleteMost of my loans are federal and thanks to the federal government's income-based repayment plan I pay a total of about $600 a month out of my government lawyer salary. And as a result of the public service loan forgiveness program, I only have to make those payments for 10 years and then the remainder will be forgiven.
I just want to make the point that even if you accumulated a lot of debt for school like I did, that doesn't mean a firm job is your only option.
$31,000 all Federal, with an average cost of interest of about 3.8% over ten years. I'll have them paid by the end of next year.
ReplyDeleteI'm 1 year out of law school.
My wife worked on-campus and we got a big tuition discount.
Damn I feel like an idiot compared to the numbers here.
ReplyDeleteI graduated from an East Coast law school: $165k in combined law school bar exam loans. $1,000 a month for the next 20 years. FML.
Private school $110k in debt with $900/month payments.
ReplyDelete$90k for an unranked private school that no one has ever heard of. Because of other financial responsibility issues, my loans are in forbearance and I won't be paying until February. Then, the total will be about $430. $10k is private and the rest is federal.
ReplyDeleteWent to a top ten law school, and my proud mom and dad paid it all. Oh yeah!
ReplyDeleteHave about $20K from undergrad (public) and $80K from law school (top private school - about 1/3rd scholarship). Payments around $1K/month.
ReplyDeleteNothing for either (private undergrad/UNLV law). Thanks mom and dad.
ReplyDeleteI am sure my first ex-wife will make up for it though...whomever she is.
I am sure my first ex-wife will make up for it though...whomever she is.
ReplyDeleteOctober 20, 2009 11:21 AM
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Oh, baby, you have no idea.
$100k, T10, $600/month on the 30 yr plan.
ReplyDeleteI don't regret taking the loans, but I think it is ridiculous that the rates are locked as high as they are given the low rates now. Even with all the bailouts, doesn't make more sense to forgive some student debt of higher wage earners like lawyers and doctors.
ReplyDeleteAnyways, I'm in about $120K. But then my parents didn't give me a dime for law school.
$140k total for law school and undergrad. 100k is federal loan,40k is private loans including bar study. About $1100 a month but in 10yrs the federal loans will be forgiven as I'm a government employee.
ReplyDeleteFederal loans are about 3% and the private loans are 6.5%.
Regarding 12:06 and bailout of student loans.
ReplyDeletehttp://www.businessinsider.com/jpmorgan-citi-charge-with-cheating-on-student-loans-2009-10
"Previously sealed court documents show that JPMorgan (JPM) and Citigroup (C) are being sued for conspiring with education finance company Nelnet (NNI) to allegedly receive federal student loan subsidies by making false claims and illegally recruiting more borrowers."
It must be nice being born on third base.
ReplyDeleteI went to a good quality state university law school in the late 1980's. In-state tuition at the time was around $500.00 per semester.
ReplyDeleteNo money from mom and pop.
ReplyDeleteGraduated 1996, spent first year in forbearance. Started paying in 1997 on a total amount of about $72k. I've got it down to about $25k now and am making monthly payments of about $475. It's the tax on my life.
I suppose I could have forseen it, but knowing what I know now, I'd have worked the three years I spent in law school and done something different. Being a lawyer ain't all it's cracked up to be. And if you count the three earning years lost in law school and add the cost of law school itself, for most people it isn't worth it. I make pretty good jack, but there are lots of careers where you can make the same or better without the lost time, expense, and stress. FML
Well said, 1:25.
ReplyDeleteSo 1:25 brings up a good question for me.
ReplyDeleteI'm nearing 30 years old, about a year away from graduating college (I know, I know) and planning on law school. My well-educated wife says it's impossible to work and do full time school, so I was planning on quitting my $50k a year job when I start school.
Should I? Frankly, I'd rather work and do school at the same time. My schedule certainly permits so there's no conflict there.
Law school = poverty (for those without parents/spouses to rely on). You can't work FT and go to law school FT...the ABA, and more importantly your sanity, won't allow it.
ReplyDeleteWork and do school at the same time. Keep that debt down. As you can see from the comments here, plenty of people dislike their career in the law and plenty of people like it. Leave yourself options and keep that debt down by working.
ReplyDelete@2:06 - I worked and went to school in a part time night program. It took an extra year. And before everyone starts talking shit about the part time programs, I have a good job and I make a generous salary. It simply allowed me to survive while in law school. The mortgage wasn't going to go away and my parents certainly weren't going to pay it.
ReplyDeleteDear 2:06,
ReplyDeleteI went to law school P/T while working full time. Graduated with no debt and with a few more years of good work experience to boot that have served me well in my career. Because I don't have a financial ball and chain dragging me down, my kids will have their educations paid for and I am happy to start them out on 3rd base. Follow your instincts like I did, leave yourself options, you might hate being a lawyer. I've seen too many people live miserable lives of indentured servitude paying off ridiculous school debts that were so not worth it.
Ended up with about 50K from Boyd. It's paid off now.
ReplyDeleteI spent 60k on three years of partying down at Boyd. Now I'm a lawyer with a secure(ish) job and the debt paid off. Way worth it.
ReplyDeleteWhen I was picking law schools, price was numero uno on the criteria list. I would not attend Boyd at today's prices.
I graduated from a top 25 law school with $25k in debt. Interest rate is 2.25%.
ReplyDeleteTook living expenses the last year only. Otherwise would have been $10k ($5k undergrad and $5k LS).
Top 25 East Coast Law School.
ReplyDelete3 years out.
$56K in Private Loans @ ~4% ($410/mth).
$87K in Federal Loans @ 3% ($272/mth).
Fun times for the next few decades.
3L done in April with about 140k [combined undergrad] in federal loans [no silver spoon here]. Looking into govt work for the forgiveness program. Luckily my wife has a nice salary, so it shouldn't be really painful...but it still sucks.
ReplyDelete2d Tier Midwestern State School. In-state tuition and books equalled around $5,000 per semester (circa mid-1990's) Got into much more prestigious schools but the prospect of a debt albatross convinced me to stay home. Furthermore I wanted to practice in that State, so why not get my foot in the door clerking at home during law school?
ReplyDeleteBroke the ABA Rule and worked 40-50hours per week because I enjoyed working toward practicing law much more than the pedantic exercises in the Ivory Tower. If I believed that practicing law would have been like law school, I would not have continued going. Graduated debt free.
There is truly no way to impress upon starry-eyed undergrads who dream that they are all going to Yale that there is a value in graduating debt-free.
~$150k total, private school. Payments in the $1600/mo range. No debt from UG.
ReplyDeletePrivate school with total debt about $125k, down to about $78k. Paying $64/mo on last private loan (paid off other 3 private loans already) and about $420 for Stafford. Last private will be paid off within next 6 months.
ReplyDeleteFortunate to not have undergrad debt, got a scholarship that paid difference between out of state tuition and in state, and my very generous parents paid my "in state" tuition. But, law school was 100% on me.
Hindsight being 20/20 - I wish I had chosen the school that would have cost me about $30K total for tuition. I could have paid that off while attending school. However, being that I didn't know many lawyers, and I believed all the bullsh!t propaganda from law schools, I thought the school mattered. Silly me.
Hopefully the Stafford loans will be paid off in the next 5 years. But, then again, at the interest rate, what's the hurry. I know the hurry, my spouse frack'n HATES the law loans and can't wait until they're GONE GONE GONE.
Maybe it's just me, but stating your monthly payment without stating the term isn't cool. "I pay $75.98 a month"... "for the next 1,504,304 years!"
ReplyDelete$0 from UG, $57k from law school (maxed the federal loans). First year paid back $175 per month, then $250 per month, now $300 per month. On the ten year plan, but thinking about paying it off early since you aren't allowed to deduct the interest when you make more than $77k (or whatever) per year. Not being able to write off the interest makes this a toxic debt, even though the interest rate is only 3%.
ReplyDeleteDear 2:06:
ReplyDeleteThe ABA won't allow full time work, but some work is definitely possible. I worked throughout law school, AND bore a child at the same time. Finished in 3 years from a Tier 1 school, in top 15%. I paid off the loans I had in ten years. It's doable - save yourself from the crushing debt so many have today. Besides - today's law firms like lawyers who have real work experience.
Today's lawfirms like associates who don't suck. If you're not a self starter, socially awkward, and have poor writing skills, try to find a non-legal job (or something in Construction Defect).
ReplyDeleteI went to Thomas M. Cooley Law school. I left with about $150K in debt...about $1,000 per month...and yes my stomach does churn at night thinking about how on earth I will pay it off...
ReplyDelete@ 4:06 - Brother-in-law's combined student loan debt (semi-private undergrad + private law) had him in the hole for over $250K. I practically crap myself just thinking about how on earth he'll ever pay it back. Particularly considering he worked half-ass jobs for his first 3 years of practice, was unemployed for 2 years and just now started what I would consider a "real" attorney job.
ReplyDeleteAll I can say is better him than me.
Anyone have more details on the federal loan forgiveness program for govt employees mentioned...who qualifies..city, county, state employees? And who do you contact?
ReplyDeletePart time law school was free and I worked full-time throughout law school.
ReplyDeleteI have no debt, but I will probably die 5 years earlier due to the stress involved with working and going to school at the same time.
same-- i worked f/t as a f/t law student. no debt, but i lost my mind!
ReplyDelete