I'm a high School Senior right now, thinking about going to law school. The problem is I have absolutely no money for college cause my dad isn't going to pay jack for my schooling, let alone graduate school. So if I attend a public school (A suny or cuny in my case), and then a private law school will I be able to pay off my debt within a few years after I finish law school?
2007-07-14 08:30:48 · 6 answers · asked by Cheez it 2 in Education & Reference ➔ Higher Education (University +)
You could accumulate a large amount of debt if EVERYTHING is in loans, and how long it takes you to pay it off depends upon what type of a job you get as a lawyer. If you go into one of the more lucrative specialties, you can probably pay it off in a few years, assuming you are still single and not trying to support a family at that point, which was a situation a lot of my classmates ran into. If you go into a specialty like public interest law, which pays poorly, it can take a while to pay off.
i would say that if your interest in law is in getting rich quick, you will be miserable and may not achieve your goals as fast as you might like. If, however. you like the law itself, you may find the debt burden worth it.
You might also look into any scholarships that might be available. My law school had a deal in which the people who had the top 10% of grades after the first year got a full scholarship. It made the competition a little nasty, but some people were absolutely relying on that to get them through.
2007-07-14 09:41:58 · answer #1 · answered by neniaf 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
You can get financial aid and scholarships to help. A suny school would greatly benefit you because they are a lot cheaper than private schools. If you have one next to you where you could stay home then it would be a great deal because tuition is only like 4,000 but housing is like 10,000. If you desire, you could start at a community college and get two years out of the way. There are so many options for you to choose. If you want to go to college, don't let money stop you. Anyways, if you are a lawyer you will have no problem paying off school loan debts. I attend Suny Albany. Have a look around at your financial aid options and what you can manage. Don't forget you can get a part time job also.
2007-07-14 08:41:57 · answer #2 · answered by rachel_ohanlon 4 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Depends on the area of law that you want to practice, whether or not you actually LIKE studying & practicing the law, who your contacts are, and so on. Every career field has low and high paying jobs. and people with degrees in other subjects often have a hard time finding a job in their major if their GPA was just average, and they got no internship experience while they were in school, and they developed no contacts (like the engineering major teaching high school physics, or the Medical Doctor working in the slums). Tuition at a state run school isn't that bad, and some are prestigious enough. The real question is, you you enjoy the law enough that this would be a good career for you, even if you had to take a crappy job? If not, then it isn't worth it.
2016-05-17 21:13:15 · answer #3 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
I wouldn't worry about paying for law school just yet. You are only in high school and haven't taken a single undergrad course yet. Enjoy your time as an undergrad and focus on your grades. Law school is difficult, long and expensive; make sure it is something you want to do first.
Also, some of the best law schools in the country are public (Michigan, UVA, Boalt.) Don't worry about public vs. private, find the school that is close to where you want to live and has programs that you are interested in
2007-07-14 09:20:40 · answer #4 · answered by twell65 1 · 0⤊ 0⤋
"Worth it" is a difficult question to answer--nothing is "worth it" if you end up hating what you are doing. However, if you do well in law school and get hired on by a fairly good sized law firm, you can look forward to a very good starting salary--good enough to bay back your loans eventually. Remember though, law schools (especially good ones) are VERY expensive. Look to taking out loans in the $100K range and taking 5-10 years to pay them off.
2007-07-14 09:23:36 · answer #5 · answered by elliottcragen 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Go to medical school - the Bush administration has gutted the law - its hard to make an easy buck in law in general - the last bastion of easy mioney was patent law - but their is a bill before COngress to make patent law toothless as well ..
2007-07-14 20:01:26 · answer #6 · answered by thefatguythatpaysthebills 3 · 1⤊ 0⤋