I know that this much debt is typical. I also know that if I went to work for a fancy law firm, I would be able to pay it off. I know that HLS has great loan-assistance programs, and that I'll even get the 3rd year of school free if I commit to working in public service for 5 years.
Still, I don't understand it. Why do they need all that money? What do they do with it? Does anyone else think that this is as crazy as I do? (Because it seems like no one else here is much worried about it . . . ) Doesn't this seem especially crazy given that there were people who were not able to find fancy law firm jobs this year given the economic situation?
3 comments:
I'm a 1L at Yale, and I feel similarly, although I'm interested in big fancy firms and don't have the option of waiving my last year's tuition. It's an insane amount of debt, yet no one else seems to be worried. At least here there are a surprising number of people whose parents are footing the bill and whatnot, so they aren't worried at all--but even those who take out the loans don't seem that worried. It's odd.
When I was at YLS 10 years ago, they told us that tuition only covered about 20% of the cost of our education. (What with all the speakers, free food & alcohol, and other perks that we got on a regular basis, I think it probably was true.)
I graduated with $130K in loans, and I just received my last COAP money. To be honest, even though I'm extremely debt adverse, the debt never really bothered me. I knew that I'd be making enough to pay it back or I'd get the money from Yale. (I went to law school to do public interest work. I probably would have been more worried if I was planning to go to a NYC firm and deal with the cost of living there.) I lived like a student my first two years out and paid a lot extra toward my loans. Since that time, I've managed to save money for retirement, live in a nice house and drive decent cars, and have 2 kids, all the while getting a nice check from Yale every 6 months. I managed to pay off my loans in 8 years with very little sacrifice.
One of my big considerations in choosing a law school was the loan repayment program. Even though Chicago offered me a huge scholarship, I figured I'd end up paying less in the end to go to Yale. I was right.
You have no idea how amazingly comforting that is! Congratulations on paying off your loans - that must be very satisfying.
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