New Student Loans

[killi]

In Ch13 now, been confirmed, 4 months paid of 36.

Prepping for law school next year, and I am curious about the likelihood of getting student loans. both federal and PLUS (with a cosigner). any experience?

[Sham11801]

With government student loans as opposed to private funding, your credit history isnt checked so you'll likely get those. Not sure if you can even get federal aid for law school.. also since you are taking on new debt,your trustee may have an issue with this. Check with the trustee along with your attorney first.

[killi]

yea law school qualifies under the graduate school federal lending programs. graduation won't be until well after the ch13 discharges, so ill ask the trustee. ill be in month 14 of 36 when law school starts. i have a cosigner for the PLUS loan and have read that it might be possible since i have never been in default on the student loans i do have. ill have to contact the trustee and also the financial aid office of the prospective schools

[HHM]

Umm, if you are going to law school, how exactly do you plan on continuing to fund your chapter 13 plan, out of curiosity. (or are we talking about night school).

I would strongly recommend against using student loans especially if you already have student loans. Also, regarding your choice of career, realize that being an attorney is not the road to riches and a comfortable life. Most attorney's make less than $60K a year and over half leave the profession within 5 years of graduating law school.

I go back and forth on whether student loans are a good idea. I am more coming around to the idea that if you can't afford it, you can't afford. If you can't put 15-20% down on a house, you can't afford to own a house. If you can't pay for your education with cash out of pocket, you cannot afford that education. One of the reasons education has become so expensive is because of the easy availability of loans (and we are now seeing that that did to the housing market), universities really have no incentive to keep costs down because students can too easily borrow money to pay for college.

[killi]

my ch 13 plan is $200 per month. I have whittled my lifestyle down so far on my budget that I have saved up enough to pay every month of my plan through the end.

Further, the only loans i will take out will be those for law school essentials. I fully expect a scholarship to a lower ranked law school, but be accepted to higher ones. I actually want to practice law, always have. the ch13 has provided me the fresh start to follow my dreams. I too often in the past made my decisions of employment on paycheck only, and has had results that I am not happy with.

the paycheck is secondary in my case. $60k a year to do what i love is more than adequate. I provide substantially now on $35k after the ch13. i was making $90k until feb this year and had nothing to show for it. saving money has become an expectation now, not merely a goal.

as for while in law school, i will have a decent amount saved by pinching pennies until then, and hope that it will last throughout the semesters and i can work in the summers. If not, my wife will help pick up the slack. she is not working currently.

i will be borrowing only what is necessary to cover tuition/expenses, and very little more. But i have a chance to attend a top 6 law school, and this combination of opportunity and following a dream is a gamble obviously, but one me and my wife have talked long and hard about, and will have spent 2 years preparing for by the time i enroll.

[HHM]

I certainly understand the whole, follow your dream thing, but lets back up for a second. You say you can probably get into a top 6 law school (probably a bit optimistic and they tend not to accept career changers, but ok I will take that at face value)...those are
Yale, Harvard, Stanford, Columbia, NYU, and UC Berkeley.

The 1 year tuition at those schools averages $40,000, admin and books, $3,000.

So, for 3 years of law school, you will borrow $129,000. Now, if you really do go to one of those schools, your job prospects will be better. When repayment hits, you are looking at over $1,000 per month.

I am just posting this as a bit of a reality check, after all, I want to by a 45' sail boat and cruise the ocean, that is a dream, but I am not going to leverage my self to the hilt to do it.

[killi]

all great points. I do see i put top 6 though i meant to put top 16. Northwestern and Georgetown are on my shortlist. However, my wife and I have been discussing the possibility that i will accept something further down the chain, perhaps 20-39 territory, that might be able to offer significant scholarship opportunity to a 173 LSAT, maybe the BU/BC area. or we can always move to UMiami area and maybe get a full ride. lots of options. if i can get a loan free full ride to a top 50, that certainly might sway a HUGE amount of decision making for us.

you make great points, and all are in my complete thought process right now. If i somehow got in to Berkeley, my shooting star goal, i might reevaluate debt to income potential. otherwise 140k of loan debt on top of my 30k is not something i would be very quick to get myself in to.