On Wednesday, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) filed suit in federal district court against Evil Corp. — er, Navient — the largest student loan servicer in the nation.
Before we get into all that evil, a little background: Navient is a spinoff of Sallie Mae — a quasi-governmental entity that holds and services student loan debt — and it’s the largest student loan servicer in the nation.
Going to law school is very risky. The Law School Transparency movement has helped a lot of people make the right decision.
Most law school aspirants are looking at $250,000 to $320,000 in debt and a 30% or more chance that they will not be working as lawyers after they graduate. There are over 100 law schools where your chances of not getting a full-time, JD required job are 30% or greater. Just look at the LST stats for yourself.
The ABA recently released statistics showing which law schools have the highest percentage of unemployed recent graduates. Now, ideally, you’ll score well on the LSAT and have more secure options available to you than any of those schools (I’m not trying to be dismissive of any of the listed institutions…but your odds of getting a return on investment are higher betting $150,000 on a singly hand of blackjack…and that won’t take 3 years of your life). Putting the option of getting a higher LSAT score aside, this post is going to focus on the best ways to maximize your chances of getting a job while you’re actually in law school.
Law school is really expensive. After three years of law school you’ll likely have a mountain of debt—which means about $3,500 in monthly loan payments for 10 years.
Take a very popular refrain you’ll hear from employers, “Law school doesn’t get you ready for actual practice.”
We told you a few weeks ago about the student that was suing her law school for allegedly misrepresenting employment data. She lost.
My property professor is fond of saying that only deviants litigate, since pretty much everyone else figures out how to fix their problems outside of a courtroom. So what can prospective law school students do short of suing after they’ve already taken a $300,000 plunge?
The price tag on law school can be overwhelming, and the plan for a lot of potential lawyers is to find a job at a big firm—which comes with a big salary—to pay off those loans. But what if you want to work in public service, which isn’t known for doling out high salaries?
Classes – the graded, real kind – started this week at Columbia. Sure, we did go through three weeks of Legal Methods, but that’s a pass-fail class that everyone passes.
Among other things, you’re supposed to get your first cold-calls out of the way in Legal Methods. You see, at law school, professors don’t wait for someone to contribute to the class discussion. They call on people. So you’d better be ready.
Or not.
Class participation usually won’t figure into your final grade, so you can flub all your cold-calls, but you’d better have a high tolerance for public shaming.
I’ve previously discussed law school debt on the LSAT blog from the viewpoint of those who have already taken it out and are living with the consequences, in a vain attempt to convince a few of you that it’s not the best idea. So go back and read those, if you haven’t already.
Done? Good.
If you’re still set on financing law school with student loans (and I’m sure 99% of those who are reading this are in that boat), it’s important to be well-informed as to what you’re signing up for. The above links will show you what life’s like living under that much debt, but it doesn’t give you a lot of information about the nuts-and-bolts of the process.
Loan repayment assistance programs (LRAPs) are magic wands that make debt disappear for students who are good-hearted enough to enter public service. Sure, you’re earning a quarter of what your classmates are making, but you’re making the world a better place, and karma repays you for that. With your loan repayment, you get a unicorn to ride to work and a lifetime’s supply of free candy canes. Oh, and you officially get to celebrate your half-birthday, which means more presents!
There are many students who enter law school every year with dreams of entering public service after they graduate. The salaries aren’t nearly as high as those in the private sector; your loans, however, will be. So how do most students expect to cover the gap?
Last week, we were reminded of the Sandy Cohen Public Defender Fellowship, rewarded to a Berkeley Law student working in the Orange County public defender’s office, and named after the eponymous character from The O.C. Really. This isn’t exactly breaking news, but given that the number of law school applicants has been plummeting, we wouldn’t be surprised to see even more of these. Law school tuition is bad enough, having nearly doubled in the last eleven years, leaving little money for room and board. So how about the Ally McBeal Nutritional Supplement Fund to help students stay fed? Or what about all the poor sorority girls who thought Legally Blonde was a documentary? The Elle Woods Expectations Management Grant will help to lessen the blow.
But in all seriousness, now more than ever you prospective law students should be on the lookout for scholarships.