Top Law Schools

Debt: about $98,000 ($72k scholarship + $45k from parents). Enjoy COA and interest, kiddos

Payments: about $1,150

Income: $70,000.

Plan: Standard (10 yrs)

Bonus points: Job can have large bonuses ($10k-$20k). Will sink most of those into loans. Lived with parents while studying for the bar which enabled me to get on my feet by saving

0Ls, this shit is not a fucking joke. I consider myself very lucky. Take home after loans is like $34,000. Tybg for no state income tax.

Great thread idea

POTUS2044 wrote:Current 1L tagging, looking at ~100k

I bet you end up with at least 125

m

rad lulz wrote:

Desert Fox wrote:

POTUS2044 wrote:Current 1L tagging, looking at ~100k

I bet you end up with at least 125

Forgetting to add interest

Rookie mistake

And tuition and COL increases, and that semester you borrow more cause you need it, and bar expenses.

But mostly dat tyranny of the 8%

Nearly had to change my pants when I called the loan peeps and they told me I was generating like $800 a month in fucking interest.

Wow, these numbers are stark.

I've been lucky, my parents have been subsidizing my COA.

But I'll still be graduating with ~$110,000 in debt.

How does one find out the eligibility requirements for IBE, or the other repayment programs?

Went to HYS with a small/medium need-based grant instead of a full ride elsewhere.

Debt: Just about $160,000 [69k in GradPlus, 62k in Stafford,18k in Perkins, 11k Bar Loan]

Salary: $160,000, non-NYC major market.

Payments: $2,100/mo. Will jump to $2,700/mo. after I pay off 6k in CC debt. Paying minimum on Perkins, extra going to GP/Stafford. Considering refinancing with Sofi, but might want to leave Biglaw and rely on LRAP, so not making that move yet.

Plan: 10 year standard. Should pay off in 6 while still throwing a big chunk into savings/investment.

I don't regret picking HYS, but I'll echo others' comments: you don't realize how much those payments actually cut out (in real terms) until you actually start budgeting and making them. If you only want Biglaw, consider much more strongly taking big money at a lower-ranked school.

Anonymous User wrote:Wow, these numbers are stark.

I've been lucky, my parents have been subsidizing my COA.

But I'll still be graduating with ~$110,000 in debt.

How does one find out the eligibility requirements for IBE, or the other repayment programs?

This page is pretty helpful: http://studentaid.ed.gov/repay-loans/understand/plans

beach_terror wrote:Debt: 175k
Payments: 1k minimum (lowest available), additional 3-3.5k/mo for now to the highest interest loan, pay it off, rinse and repeat
Income: over $100k
Plan: 25 year fixed (hope to be done in 4-5 years)
Note: living at home to knock off as much principal as possible until after New Years

How did you get to 1k minimum?

romothesavior wrote:

beach_terror wrote:Debt: 175k
Payments: 1k minimum (lowest available), additional 3-3.5k/mo for now to the highest interest loan, pay it off, rinse and repeat
Income: over $100k
Plan: 25 year fixed (hope to be done in 4-5 years)
Note: living at home to knock off as much principal as possible until after New Years

How did you get to 1k minimum?

Mines over a 1/4mil and I've got 128 dollars due to IBR.

romothesavior wrote:

beach_terror wrote:Debt: 175k
Payments: 1k minimum (lowest available), additional 3-3.5k/mo for now to the highest interest loan, pay it off, rinse and repeat
Income: over $100k
Plan: 25 year fixed (hope to be done in 4-5 years)
Note: living at home to knock off as much principal as possible until after New Years

How did you get to 1k minimum?

25 year fixed is 1.1k or something for me, or that's what she told me on the phone. Opted for the longest and cheapest monthly requirement so I can free up more money for the 8%ers.

Desert Fox wrote:

romothesavior wrote:

beach_terror wrote:Debt: 175k
Payments: 1k minimum (lowest available), additional 3-3.5k/mo for now to the highest interest loan, pay it off, rinse and repeat
Income: over $100k
Plan: 25 year fixed (hope to be done in 4-5 years)
Note: living at home to knock off as much principal as possible until after New Years

How did you get to 1k minimum?

Mines over a 1/4mil and I've got 128 dollars due to IBR.

I can't tell if you're joking, but the one thing I wish I had understood better before/during law school is the power of the PAYE/IBR and PSLF combination. If you're interested in public interest and you can get on a qualifying career track that will last a decade, it doesn't even matter how much debt you have.

I chose scholarship & in-state tuition at my T2 to minimize debt but since I got my dream state govt job I have realized that I could have paid sticker at my school or anywhere else and ended up with the same amount of debt to pay off. Still, banking on keeping a PSLF gig for a decade is quite a gamble.

Not joking, you qualify on your last years tax return. I'll pay off a lot more than that, but I'll get to aim it to 8% loans.

Total debt: 99k
Monthly payment: 3.35k
Income: Biglaw 2nd year
Plan: the pay it down as fast as you can plan (I know, I could probably make more in the stock market, but I'm a risk averse pussy who likes a guaranteed rate of return).

Biglaw_Associate_V20 wrote:Total debt: 99k
Monthly payment: 3.35k
Income: Biglaw 2nd year
Plan: the pay it down as fast as you can plan (I know, I could probably make more in the stock market, but I'm a risk averse pussy who likes a guaranteed rate of return).

You can make more than 8% in the mkt?

Teach me your ways bro

rad lulz wrote:

Biglaw_Associate_V20 wrote:Total debt: 99k
Monthly payment: 3.35k
Income: Biglaw 2nd year
Plan: the pay it down as fast as you can plan (I know, I could probably make more in the stock market, but I'm a risk averse pussy who likes a guaranteed rate of return).

You can make more than 8% in the mkt?

Teach me your ways bro

I dunno. I had some third-year biglaw douche bag telling me how I should be throwing my money into an IRA or something because the average return + tax benefit would be better than the 7.9% rate on my Grad Plus loans. I just acted like he was right, but I knew I would never do this even if it were true because I'm risk averse (and I think projected market return rates have shifted downward for the foreseeable future compared to what they used to be based on advice from my friend who is a HBS grad/finance masterman).

Debt: 48k left
Payments: $750/mo
Plan: Gone by 2015
Income $140k (in house)

rad lulz wrote:

Biglaw_Associate_V20 wrote:Total debt: 99k
Monthly payment: 3.35k
Income: Biglaw 2nd year
Plan: the pay it down as fast as you can plan (I know, I could probably make more in the stock market, but I'm a risk averse pussy who likes a guaranteed rate of return).

You can make more than 8% in the mkt?

Teach me your ways bro

Off-topic so don't wanna get too much into it but just buying a blue chip, low beta stock with a 3-5% dividend (Think INTC, PG, CVX, etc) and immediately selling a yearly covered call on your position that is 5% higher than current price will basically guarantee double digit gains barring another recession. I've been doing this for years and making a conservative 15-17% annually. I also buy collared positions which more or less WILL guarantee you a 5%+ return in the absolute worst case scenario possible, a much better take than some joke 1% or less savings account. PM for more details if you want, I don't wanna ruin thi thread with investing tips/talk.

BarbellDreams wrote:

rad lulz wrote:

Biglaw_Associate_V20 wrote:Total debt: 99k
Monthly payment: 3.35k
Income: Biglaw 2nd year
Plan: the pay it down as fast as you can plan (I know, I could probably make more in the stock market, but I'm a risk averse pussy who likes a guaranteed rate of return).

You can make more than 8% in the mkt?

Teach me your ways bro

Off-topic so don't wanna get too much into it but just buying a blue chip, low beta stock with a 3-5% dividend (Think INTC, PG, CVX, etc) and immediately selling a yearly covered call on your position that is 5% higher than current price will basically guarantee double digit gains barring another recession. I've been doing this for years and making a conservative 15-17% annually. I also buy collared positions which more or less WILL guarantee you a 5%+ return in the absolute worst case scenario possible, a much better take than some joke 1% or less savings account. PM for more details if you want, I don't wanna ruin thi thread with investing tips/talk.

(Bernie Madoff poasting from prison)

Debt: $135K
Repayment: Would be $1,500 or so, if not for PAYE.
Jerb: Vale'd & one of those PT school funded jerbs
Plan: *gulp* Keep applying, networking, and hope to god it gets better.

Even as an anon, this is hellishly painful/embarrassing/shameful to admit.

Anonymous User wrote:Debt: $135K
Repayment: Would be $1,500 or so, if not for PAYE.
Jerb: Vale'd & one of those PT school funded jerbs
Plan: *gulp* Keep applying, networking, and hope to god it gets better.

Even as an anon, this is hellishly painful/embarrassing/shameful to admit.

Nothin you can do but keep on truckin bro

Best of luck to you

Hope somethin works out

Thanks for sharing

Anonymous User wrote:Debt: about $98,000 ($72k scholarship + $45k from parents). Enjoy COA and interest, kiddos

Payments: about $1,150

Income: $70,000.

Plan: Standard (10 yrs)

Bonus points: Job can have large bonuses ($10k-$20k). Will sink most of those into loans. Lived with parents while studying for the bar which enabled me to get on my feet by saving

0Ls, this shit is not a fucking joke. I consider myself very lucky. Take home after loans is like $34,000. Tybg for no state income tax.

school rank?

thewaves wrote:

Anonymous User wrote:Debt: about $98,000 ($72k scholarship + $45k from parents). Enjoy COA and interest, kiddos

Payments: about $1,150

Income: $70,000.

Plan: Standard (10 yrs)

Bonus points: Job can have large bonuses ($10k-$20k). Will sink most of those into loans. Lived with parents while studying for the bar which enabled me to get on my feet by saving

0Ls, this shit is not a fucking joke. I consider myself very lucky. Take home after loans is like $34,000. Tybg for no state income tax.

school rank?

I can't imagine why this would be relevant to this thread. People aren't sharing this information so that others can reverse engineer how they landed their jobs- the idea is just that graduates who are willing to share their numbers offer helpful information to 0Ls and students so that you guys can get a feel for what payments actually look like. If you want to dissect someone's career trajectory you can do it somewhere else.

thewaves wrote:

Anonymous User wrote:Debt: about $98,000 ($72k scholarship + $45k from parents). Enjoy COA and interest, kiddos

Payments: about $1,150

Income: $70,000.

Plan: Standard (10 yrs)

Bonus points: Job can have large bonuses ($10k-$20k). Will sink most of those into loans. Lived with parents while studying for the bar which enabled me to get on my feet by saving

0Ls, this shit is not a fucking joke. I consider myself very lucky. Take home after loans is like $34,000. Tybg for no state income tax.

school rank?

Why the fuck would that be important. If you looked at LST, the GULC calculator, and used some common sense, you'd see how easy it is to rack up $98k by the time repayment hits. From any school.

Just some quick math - a full scholarship to GW (random school I picked) will STILL put you $100k into the hole at repayment

Dat tyranny of the 8%.

-98k anon