What salary should one be making...?

Graduate School Law School
1

<p>Because of the economy, it’s totally fair for prospective law students to worry over the 100-120k debt one will face when they get out. Some are saying “t14 or nothing”, but I think there’s still confusion as to how much one such be making to escape this kind of debt. </p>

<p>So the question is this: When faced with 100-120k debt, what should one’s starting salary be to pay it off this debt while living modestly? </p>

<p>For reference when a reply is posted, here are the employment salary statistics from 2008:</p>

<p>Columbia, ranked 4:
[Columbia</a> Law School : Admitted Students](<a href=“http://www.law.columbia.edu/careers/career_services/admitted]Columbia”>http://www.law.columbia.edu/careers/career_services/admitted)</p>

<p>Loyola, ranked 71:
<a href=“http://intranet.lls.edu/careerservices/stats/employmentstats.pdf[/url]”>http://intranet.lls.edu/careerservices/stats/employmentstats.pdf&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

2

<p>There are mortgage calculators on-line where you can plug in a principal amount, a repayment period, and an interest rate.</p>

<p>For example, at $120K of debt at 6.5% interest, and a ten year repayment period, you would have monthly payments of $1,362.58.</p>

<p>If you assume that about a third of your income goes to taxes, this would mean you’d need an annual income of a little under $25K to meet your debt service obligations. Add to that your own definition of what it takes to live modestly wherever it is you’re contemplating living.</p>

<p>If you can get longer repayment terms, adjust accordingly.</p>

3

<p>I’m pretty sure student loans are tax deductible, which means you’d need closer to 17k based on those figures?</p>

4

<p>I think you can deduct interest payments on student loans, but only up to $2500 and only if your income is under $70K.</p>

5

<p>Americanski is correct, though I think the ceiling is $65k for singles, and $135k for join filers.</p>

<p>I would also be thinking about 401k contributions. Since they are deductible, your taxable income is lowered, potentially exposing you to a lower marginal tax rate.</p>