<p>I graduated high school a year early and I am currently taking a gap year. I have applied to a multitude of colleges, but I will probably attend the George Washington University. The university is obscenely expensive and my family is far from rich. (If there was line people must cross in order to declare themselves affluent, then my family would need binoculars to see it) Subsequently, I will likely graduate with a substantial amount of debt. Since, I will graduate as a history major, job opportunities will not only be limited, but will offer meager salaries. Ultimately, I would like to become an international lawyer, but I think it would be an act of folly to attend law school with an outstanding debt. I believe I have a good chance of being admitted to a top law school, as I took a practice LSAT and scored in the 165-170 range. I will also work arduously while at college, as I have incentive to do so (not only do I love learning, but GWU offers half-tuition to those with a 3.7 GPA). So, my question is whether I should take a few years off before law school to try and remunerate the substantial student debt- on a social scientist’s salary- that I will owe or should I attend law school directly and pay off the debt after graduation-on a solicitor’s pay?</p>
<p>Student loans, since interest is usually deferred while you’re a student, will actually decrease slightly in value while you’re in school thanks to inflation. Not that that’s a big depreciation, but it would certainly make more sense to try to pay back an ever-so-slightly-smaller debt as a lawyer rather than a research assistant.</p>
<p>If they were accruing (sp?) interest, it might be another matter.</p>
<p>The decision is very far off, of course – at least four years. So plenty of time to decide.</p>
<p>It’s just plain silly to try to make this decision now. That said, I want to point out that the very best law schools and some others have loan forgiveness programs. That means you don’t have to pay off the debt if you go into public service–and, at least at one law school, you don’t earn that much for other reasons. Moreover, a FEW of these programs INCLUDE SOME UNDERGRADUATE DEBT. Thus, it can sometimes make sense to go straight on. If you “stop out” you’ll have to pay back debt and your FAFSA may be such that your ability to get subsidize federal loans is decreased. If you go straight on, that undergrad debt may be eligible for loan forgiveness. </p>
<p>I’m NOT an expert on this…so NO PMs, PLEASE!!! Just want you to know that in some cases, undergrad debt can be eligible for loan forgiveness programs at law schools.</p>
<p>welcome to G-Dubbs! the Elliott school is amazing and we are excited to have you on campus! </p>
<p>I just finished my first semester and am working towards the 3.7 half-tuition thing as well - I finished with a 3.95 but it was a TON of work. but it is doable! </p>
<p>PM me for any info about the campus, etc. good luck!</p>
<p>I also come from a low income family and I always worry when I see someone from my economic background taking a break when they have the ability and promise to go ahead and push forward academically. Yes, it technically sounds good to take a break in between to pay off debt accrued, but in reality your delaying your ability to earn significantly more. If you earn $30 to $50k with your history degreee, but could earn $75 to $100k with your law degree, your losing between $45 to $70k a year by delaying your progress to post-law degree employment. And of course your also losing years that could be invested in your actual career as a lawyer. </p>
<p>Also, in my experience being low income implies more than just economic hardships. When you take a break, life just tends to happen and many students never make it back. You sound really bright and unless there is really no funding options available to you and your forced to take a break, I would encourage you to plug on and worry about your necessary student loan debt once you’re a lawyer and have the education and employment opportunities to deal with it.</p>
<p>Thanks for all your advice and input; you have all been unbelievably helpful. I know it is rather silly, even fastidious, to worry about these matters prematurely, but I have been so overwhelmed with financial concerns lately that I just want to obviate any future anxiety. While attending university I don’t want to be stressing over how I can afford law school, especially since university can be stressful and challenging enough. Many people have succeeded academically despite monetary obstacles before though, so I take confidence in that. Thanks, again for your words of encouragement and wisdom.</p>
<ol>
<li><p>While interest is not accrued on subsidized Stafford loans while you in college, if you need to completely pay your way through school, you will likely need to take out some unsubsidized Stafford loans as well. Unsubsidized Stafford loans accrue interest while you are in college (though you don’t have to pay that interest then) and the interest is all rolled up and capitalized into the principal of your loan upon graduation. I believe that payments on both begin six months after graduation. If you go to law school, you can defer payments on your undergraduate loans, but your undergraduate loans will continue to accrue interest the entire time while you are in law school. Ouch! if you need to take out additional private loans to help pay for college, those loans will generally also defer the payment of interest while you are in college, but that interest will also be rolled up and capitalized into the principal of your private loan upon graduation. Some of these loans cannot be deferred while you are in law school, and those that can will continue to accrue interest the entire time while you are in law school. Double ouch!</p></li>
<li><p>Assuming that you will also need loans to help pay for law school, please keep in mind that there is a lifetime cap on the amount of Stafford loans that you can take out (over $100k, but still a problem given how high law school tuition and fees are). You may hit that cap and then have major problems while you are in law school if you are eligible only for private loans, which are typically much more expensive (higher origination fees, higher interest rates with no caps at all on the interest rates, and no consolidation available post-graduation) than Stafford loans. Of course, there are also Perkins loans (though only a small amount is available each year). Also, if you have a ton of loans outstanding when you get to law school, private lenders may be less likely to lend you money.</p></li>
<li><p>Many private loans require guarantors who make a certain level of income in order for you to get the private loans at all. </p></li>
</ol>
<p>It certainly is possible to put yourself through college and law school. I did it, and many others have done the same. You have to be smart about it from the beginning, though. Try your best to go to a college that you can afford with manageable student loans. Do work study and/or get a job while in college. Work for a couple of years after college and live on the cheap, with roommates, without HBO and without unnecessary luxuries. Pay down those loans with every spare dollar. Go to law school and do the best you can do. Then find a job where you will make enough to pay for all of those loans. I know that it isn’t easy but it certainly can be done. Remember, too, that having all of those loans likely means that you will need one of those extraordinary long hours, big law firm in a big city-type jobs to make those payments. If you are not comfortable working on weekends and late at night with unpredictable hours, you may want to choose a path that includes some more affordable schools or you may want to choose another path altogether. </p>
<p>As far as paying for law school goes, I also recommend going to Harvard’s admission’s blog, and checking out the podcasts Toby Stock keeps there…there is one focused on financial aid and the business case for going to law school (specifically Harvard, but a lot of the principles and programs he talks about apply in varying forms at other schools). I think it brings a lot of hope for what may seem like a dismal financial situation…and NOT just by saying something lame like “its ok to rack up debt, you will make a lot of money as a lawyer”…they actually touch on concrete examples of how people with varying post-law school incomes can approach paying off an average amount of debt by leveraging different programs (again, specifically Harvard’s titled programs, but once they have given you an idea of what to look for, you will find that other schools have different versions, albeit varying in size/terms). </p>
<p>Another pro-Harvard spiel - they are the ONLY law school, including Yale,Stanford, etc, that I have found that offers students the benefit of their relationship with a major bank (Citi)…and by that I mean, if you are accepted to Harvard Law, you are guaranteed approval for private loans through Citi regardless of your income, credit history, etc. You can only borrow up to what Harvard’s financial aid committee calculates as your “need” (similar to FAFSA/undergrad institution does for current financial aid students), however, this should be enough for anyone admitted to attend regardless of financial background. (And who would want to borrow more than their need anyways? Also, for those of you again thinking “yeah but thats just a loan, you have to eventually pay that back…” please loop back to the paragraph above and listen to the podcast addressing loan payoff situations.) They brush against this topic in the podcast, but basically I would assume this is possible becuase statistically less than 1% of Harvard graduates default on their student loans, so Citi finds these students to be a solid risk despite where they are coming from pre-Harvard.</p>
<p>If I wasn’t in love with Harvard for 15 Million other reasons before, understanding the lengths they’ve gone to to recruit the best class available - without regard to economic means of applicants, by working to build this relationship with Citi, has me swooning.</p>
<p>If your parents are as far from rich as you say and they haven’t saved for your education then you should be eligible for some nice scholarships as an undergrad. I would check into financial aid if I were you. Many students can attend private schools or out of state schools for the same cost as instate if their parents can’t afford it.
Good luck and work very very hard.</p>
<p>I came across this thread as the result of search that I did in this forum with the key words “gap year” and the posts have been interesting and informative.
Like the OP, my D will entering college this fall (undergrad) is also interested in a career in International Law. Putting aside the issue of financing, I do have a related question: She’s applying to several schools and at one of them, American University in DC, whenever the question of AU graduates going on to law school came up, the admissions reps (this same thing happened in two separate info sessions at AU) stressed that based upon their particular Law School’s preferences, most law schools prefer that a prospective student get in a few year’s work experience before applying to law school. This surprised us a bit, as we didn’t hear that at any school that we visited where this question came up, and it doesn’t seem to be the prevailing line of thought from the posts in this thread. Does anybody know or have any thoughts on whether law schools prefer their admissions candidates to apply directly to law school upon completing their undergrad. education, or do they prefer candidates with some work experience in the interim? Thanks.</p>
<p>Work experience is certainly not required for admission to law school (it is, for example, though, highly recommended at Northwestern Law). However, an increasing percentage of law students at top law schools do indeed have some full time work experience under their belts. Having some full time work experience on your resume can also be to a student’s advantage during the recruiting process for getting that first job after graduation from law school.</p>
<p>OP, please keep in mind the GWU is one of the most expensive universities in the country, and is not that high on the list of schools that give great financial aid. While their stats state that the average student indebtness is
24k, the average student is not low income and these numbers only reflect student loans not parent or private loans.</p>
<p>As sally stated depending on the aid package you get from GW it would be very easy to reach the 23k cap for undergrad debt in stafford loans (46,000 is your parents are not eligible for a plus loans).</p>
<p>Actually, it is ranked by U.S. News, as the most generous school and almost 50% of the student population receive need based financial aid, but thank you for you concern. </p>
<p>Thanksn again, for all the advice everyone and momonthehill you raise some interesting points, as generally speaking most law students enroll at age twenty-four.</p>
<p>EDIT: I’m also aware that I will be in a substantial amount of debt, which is why I was asking for opinions.</p>
<p>i think that the money you will make out of law school will far exceed the additional costs of interest. although you feel the anxiety get out of debt, if your ultimate goal is to get out of debt in the least amount of time (i don’t know what other goal there would be) then you should go to law school first, assuming you’re set on going that is.</p>