Financing a Legal Education

Taking out loans is the most common way law school students pay the bills while they are consumed in legal literature (case files and LexisNexis). Taking out a loan, most of which comes from the government, allows students to defer their undergraduate student loans (if relevant) and continue to study for an advanced professional degree. Then, a few years down the road, when they earned their piece of paper to be framed proudly on their office wall they have to begin paying back the government with interest tacked on to the bill.

Step one in taking out loans is filling out your FAFSA, the financial aid for students application. This basically enumerates how much money you currently possess (or lack thereof) and how much external funding you are expecting to receive from parents, schools, etc. Then, FAFSA and any of the schools you are considering and have been accepted to tell you how much financial aid you are awarded. These awards come in the form of subsidized loans, unsubsidized loans and GradPLUS loans which are especially issued for graduate level students.

The myths inherent with financial aid come into play when 0Ls say, "Well, I'll take out $160,000 in loans but then work for a year after school and make that $160,000 at my BigLaw firm job and be able to pay it all back." The fact of the matter is that those jobs are far and few between AND even if you do somehow land one I guarantee your full salary (or even half) is going to pay back loans.