Law school financial aid

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:A law degree is a good credential to have. She can work in government if she wants.

This is OP! Thanks for the info regarding financial aid for prof schools. I understand it better now.

And I thought giving more information would keep the comments on topic lol.

I was trying to stress that we were just thinking about the finances of it. My personal thoughts now is that I would NOT want her to become an attorney. But we wouldn’t sway our 18-year-old either way at this point. Who knows!? She should learn a lot more about herself in the next few years to more solidify her decision on what she wants for her future.

Either way, DH works in finance where people with law degrees (attorneys and not) get paid substantially for a 9 to 5 job. They are more corporate lawyers and give input on
Contracts, compliance or regulatory issues. Again, we envision our snowflake doing more…. Actually Making laws and contributing more to societal changes, but who knows!?

[Anonymous]

If DD would need financial aid to go to law school, and she has no interest in being a lawyer, i highly recommend not going to law school.

-- a lawyer who has watched her friends from law school struggle for years with paying back loans

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Speaking gently, those are not good reasons to go to law school.

Most law grads don't, or can't, find jobs in their field. In CA, many attorneys work as paralegals bc there are so many of them and not enough jobs.

You are making stuff up. Yes, there are some law school grads that work as paralegals, but that is generally because they didn't pass the bar, not because there are so many lawyers and "not enough jobs." And there certainly aren't "many attorneys" who do this.

-- A lawyer licensed in CA.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Curious…how does one become a law professor…is there such a thing as a law PhD? Almost sounds like the route for DD.

Just wondering if that route is fully covered. As an example, you of course have to pay yourself for an MBA, but a finance PhD is 100% free and actually you can earn decent money getting research sponsored.

Wondering if law is at all the same.

To be a professor, you attend Yale for your law degree. Many also get a PhD in another subject.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:A law degree is a good credential to have. She can work in government if she wants.

This is OP! Thanks for the info regarding financial aid for prof schools. I understand it better now.

And I thought giving more information would keep the comments on topic lol.

I was trying to stress that we were just thinking about the finances of it. My personal thoughts now is that I would NOT want her to become an attorney. But we wouldn’t sway our 18-year-old either way at this point. Who knows!? She should learn a lot more about herself in the next few years to more solidify her decision on what she wants for her future.

Either way, DH works in finance where people with law degrees (attorneys and not) get paid substantially for a 9 to 5 job. They are more corporate lawyers and give input on
Contracts, compliance or regulatory issues. Again, we envision our snowflake doing more…. Actually Making laws and contributing more to societal changes, but who knows!?

Contributing more to societal changes... Lol, good luck. With the debt, it's ambulance chasing.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Speaking gently, those are not good reasons to go to law school.

Most law grads don't, or can't, find jobs in their field. In CA, many attorneys work as paralegals bc there are so many of them and not enough jobs.

You are making stuff up. Yes, there are some law school grads that work as paralegals, but that is generally because they didn't pass the bar, not because there are so many lawyers and "not enough jobs." And there certainly aren't "many attorneys" who do this.

-- A lawyer licensed in CA.

You are a liar, I mean a lawyer. I know many coworkers who are licensed working in a blue collar-field requiring only a HS degree.

[Anonymous]

You can take unlimited student loans to attend law school, that's the financial aid. People leave law school $150-300k in debt and it's not so easy to just get a government or non-profit job for 10 year forgiveness.

[Anonymous]

There is merit aid, especially if you are a resident of the state where you're attending a state school. She will need excellent undergrad GPA and high LSAT score. College major does not really matter for admissions.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:A law degree is a good credential to have. She can work in government if she wants.

This is OP! Thanks for the info regarding financial aid for prof schools. I understand it better now.

And I thought giving more information would keep the comments on topic lol.

I was trying to stress that we were just thinking about the finances of it. My personal thoughts now is that I would NOT want her to become an attorney. But we wouldn’t sway our 18-year-old either way at this point. Who knows!? She should learn a lot more about herself in the next few years to more solidify her decision on what she wants for her future.

Either way, DH works in finance where people with law degrees (attorneys and not) get paid substantially for a 9 to 5 job. They are more corporate lawyers and give input on
Contracts, compliance or regulatory issues. Again, we envision our snowflake doing more…. Actually Making laws and contributing more to societal changes, but who knows!?

As you probably know, a law degree is not required to be an elected lawmaker. Judges are expected to have them, but becoming an a judge is more about political connections these days. If she decides she actually wants to get into politics, the amount of law school tuition would be better spent supporting her while she takes thankless unpaid or underpaid jobs on campaigns, and/or spent donating to the party of her choice.

Also, my experience (not universal) was that I was hot stuff in HS and undergrad but only pretty good compared to my law school classmates. There are a lot of really smart people out there. I discovered early in my 1L year that I did not enjoy the kind of law that judges typically deal with, so I wouldn't like the job even if I were connected enough to get it. I am happy practicing law, and I'm good at my corner of it, but my mom doesn't really grasp why I didn't reach higher.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:A law degree is a good credential to have. She can work in government if she wants.

This is OP! Thanks for the info regarding financial aid for prof schools. I understand it better now.

And I thought giving more information would keep the comments on topic lol.

I was trying to stress that we were just thinking about the finances of it. My personal thoughts now is that I would NOT want her to become an attorney. But we wouldn’t sway our 18-year-old either way at this point. Who knows!? She should learn a lot more about herself in the next few years to more solidify her decision on what she wants for her future.

Either way, DH works in finance where people with law degrees (attorneys and not) get paid substantially for a 9 to 5 job. They are more corporate lawyers and give input on
Contracts, compliance or regulatory issues. Again, we envision our snowflake doing more…. Actually Making laws and contributing more to societal changes, but who knows!?

As you probably know, a law degree is not required to be an elected lawmaker. Judges are expected to have them, but becoming an a judge is more about political connections these days. If she decides she actually wants to get into politics, the amount of law school tuition would be better spent supporting her while she takes thankless unpaid or underpaid jobs on campaigns, and/or spent donating to the party of her choice.

Also, my experience (not universal) was that I was hot stuff in HS and undergrad but only pretty good compared to my law school classmates. There are a lot of really smart people out there. I discovered early in my 1L year that I did not enjoy the kind of law that judges typically deal with, so I wouldn't like the job even if I were connected enough to get it. I am happy practicing law, and I'm good at my corner of it, but my mom doesn't really grasp why I didn't reach higher.

Some law schools require you to maintain a high GPA to keep your merit aid then put you in the section where you have to compete against all the other really smart people. I wouldn't consider anything law schools offer as "aid"

[Anonymous]

You can afford it, why not pay?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Speaking gently, those are not good reasons to go to law school.

Most law grads don't, or can't, find jobs in their field. In CA, many attorneys work as paralegals bc there are so many of them and not enough jobs.

You are making stuff up. Yes, there are some law school grads that work as paralegals, but that is generally because they didn't pass the bar, not because there are so many lawyers and "not enough jobs." And there certainly aren't "many attorneys" who do this.

-- A lawyer licensed in CA.

You are a liar, I mean a lawyer. I know many coworkers who are licensed working in a blue collar-field requiring only a HS degree.

Sure, Jan.

[Anonymous]

There is a decent amount of merit aid available for law school, contrary to what you are being told here

But it’s very much the case that law schools are buying students who otherwise would never consider them. So you generally need to be way overqualified for a school and decide you’re fine with going somewhere two tiers lower than you’re qualified for in exchange for meaningful merit $

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Speaking gently, those are not good reasons to go to law school.

Most law grads don't, or can't, find jobs in their field. In CA, many attorneys work as paralegals bc there are so many of them and not enough jobs.

You are making stuff up. Yes, there are some law school grads that work as paralegals, but that is generally because they didn't pass the bar, not because there are so many lawyers and "not enough jobs." And there certainly aren't "many attorneys" who do this.

-- A lawyer licensed in CA.

You are a liar, I mean a lawyer. I know many coworkers who are licensed working in a blue collar-field requiring only a HS degree.

Sure, Jan.

Marsha, Marsha, Marsha!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:There’s no financial aid for law school, if you mean grants or other free money. There are loans, and anyone qualifies for the loans, as far as I know. I don’t think they consider your parents’ income or wealth.

+1

And they charge an arm and a leg for programs like this and MBAs with the assumption you will get a high paying job afterward and will be wealthy enough to afford it.

+2. Law school is $$$$$$$. Ask me how I know.