Top 5 Ways To Graduate Law School Debt-Free

Ok, so I talk a lot about personal finance and law school debt. I’m passionate about sharing more accurate information on the financial aspects of law school. Right now, law school graduates are in crisis. And the more I talk to other law students and aspiring law students, the more scared I am for us.

The most popular way of financing for law school is taking out loans for the entire cost of attendance. But you don’t need to take over $250,000.00 in order to get this JD.

Here are the 5 top ways you can pay for law school without incurring a bunch of debt. I’ll later explain what I’m doing and why.

Pay for It Out-Of-Pocket

Okay, this may seem like a painful no-brainer: you can pay for law school in full as you are attending. This may seem impossible because law school is so freakin’ expensive. Additionally, you have already paid thousands of dollars to apply already. But you can actually Graduate Law School Debt-Free with your own income and/or your savings. Let’s break this down.

Let say you want to attend Rutgers School of Law full-time at the Camden campus. Here is a breakdown from Rutgers University regarding the School of Law’s cost of attendance.

If you attend for three years and take out the maximum amount in loans, you’re running up a large bill. Your total tuition costs will be anywhere from $144,426.00 to $169,098.00. Um… This is not looking too good, but let’s game this out shall we?

If you work for three years before you go to law school, you can build up a nice nest egg. These savings can pay for some of your law school expenses. If you’re like me and majored in health sciences or business, your starting salary may range between $52,000.00 to $71,000.00. I’m going to take the median salary at $61,500.00.

Living Frugal on Average Salary

If you make $61,500.00 in Washington, DC, your monthly take-home pay will be $3,820.00. I’m going to assume you live frugally. This mean you didn’t inflate your lifestyle after you graduated so your living expenses fall below the average college graduate. Here is a sample comparison of the average college graduate versus a frugal college graduate on $3,820.00 monthly salary:

Is this realistic?

Indeed, I wasn’t expecting the difference to be that big but here we are! Since I graduated college, I’ve been living with 2-5 roommates, using public transportation, and mostly cooking my meals at home. Those three huge lifestyle choices equal $1,400.00 each month in savings. Yikes.

Also, I have been benefiting from my mother’s health insurance plan (Thanks, Obama.). Additionally, I thankfully graduated with about $20,000.00 in student loans from undergrad. Furthermore, I’ve been paying less than $200 per month on that balance because I selected a graduated repayment plan.

If you follow my budget for 3 years with no increases in salary, you’ll have saved $72,540.00. For 4 years, you’ll have $96,720.00. Within 5 years, 120,900.00. For 6 years, 145,080.00.

I know what you may be thinking after reading that. Sounds too good to be true, huh? I’ll be the first to admit saving isn’t as easy when salaries vary and your living expenses can vary, too. However, my point is you can reduce your debt burden if you are intentional about saving for law school.

Select an Affordable Law School

Now, if the prospect of saving over 6 figures scared the heck out of you, don’t worry. You can always go to an affordable law school that costs less than 18 grand each year in-state.

The allure of prestige will tempt you to pay full price for some highly ranked schools. Many people pay sticker price for George Washington University, Stanford University, Boston University or University of Virginia. Why? Because the USA World News rankings list them highly.

You may think that the “weight” of these schools’ reputations will guarantee you to secure a high-paying job. Then this high-paying job will justify the level of debt you are going to put yourself in. Let me disabuse you of that fantasy.

Dose of Reality

The top students at the top law schools are the students who snag high-paying corporate law jobs. Everyone thinks that they will be in the top 10% but 90% of those optimists will be wrong. Also, you will be competing with other high achievers in a new environment that you’ve never been in before. The odds are not in your favor for one of those guaranteed jobs.

For the class of 2018, the median amount of compensation was $75,000. Crucially, less than 15% of law school graduates’ salaries are at or over $150,000. Despite whatever optimistic myth you’ve heard about becoming a rich lawyer, that stats are telling a different story. You’re more likely to be saddled with 6 figures of debt without a 6-figure salary to pay it off.

A more likely way to graduate law school debt-free or debt-less is to attend a more affordable school. Thankfully, there are plenty of law schools that offers in-state tuition that’s less than $25,000.00 each year.

Get a Scholarship When You Apply

If you have the numbers for highly ranked schools, you can go to a lower-ranked school for nearly $FREE.99. The costs of a highly rank law school may not always be worth the sticker price.

Only 23% of law school graduates in the US say that their JD degree is worth the cost. What makes you think that you’ll be so different?

Here is a little secret to law school admissions that LSAT prep companies and other law students won’t tell you.. You don’t need a 165+ LSAT score to score scholarships. That’s right. You read that correctly. Don’t worry if your numbers aren’t competitive for the top law schools. You don’t need a 170. Focus your efforts on crushing your particular school’s 75th percentile.

How to Increase Your Scholarship Chances

In order to get a scholarship when you apply, you must have competitive a GPA/LSAT score combination for that school. What is competitive changes from law school to law school. My rule of thumb is you want scores at/above the law school’s 75th Percentile GPA and LSAT scores. For example, let’s use a moderately-ranked school in D.C. Catholic University School of America Columbia School of Law Class of 2018 Admissions Profile reveals that the following percentiles:

	LSAT	GPA
75th Percentile:	156	3.59
Median:	153	3.41
25th Percentile	150	3.19

To snag a scholarship at CUA, shoot for a GPA above a 3.59 and a LSAT score above a 156. So if you are still in college, you should be working on getting the highest GPA possible. This will improve your chances of getting scholarships. If you have already graduated with a low GPA, it’s not too late either. Your focus should be on attaining a LSAT score above the 156 mark. This means dedicating months to mastering the LSAT and taking lots of practice tests Elle Woods-style.

It’s easier to graduate law school debt free when you have a substantial scholarship from day 1.

Get Scholarships While You Are in Law School

Scholarships don’t end the moment you accepted your admission offers. Rather, you will have many opportunities to received third-party funds from law firms, non-profits, bar associations, and other groups. Most of these scholarships require an essay in response to a unique prompt related to the goals or values of the groups offering the scholarship.

You usually need copies of your unofficial transcripts and proof that you are currently enrolled or are matriculating into law school to submit with your essays.

I’ve found tons of interesting scholarships from personal injury law firms or community organizations for certain ethnic groups. A quick Google search of “law school scholarship”should be enough for you to find a dozen of legitimate scholarship you can apply to.

If the scholarship money you’ve been receiving exceeds the tuition costs, those funds will contribute to your “cost of attendance” instead of solely your tuition. The outside scholarships you may receive will contribute to your living expenses, books, transportation costs, etc.

Whether your third-party scholarships contribute to only tuition or other associated costs will impact your ability to graduate law school debt-free if you have to take out loans to cover loving expenses.

Get a Sugar Daddy/Momma

I kid, of course…. Unless you can actually get a suga daddy/momma. In which case, comment on this post and tell me where you found them and if they want to sponsor a neurotic incoming law student..

Get Someone Else To Pay For Law School (and other costs..)

Seriously.. Hear Me Out!

Many law students who are the children of active military service members or veterans can qualify for stipends and other support from the government. If your mother or father is or was active duty military, please check with them if their benefits can extend to you.

If you attended an “affordable” college or you received scholarships for your undergraduate degree, maybe your parents have leftover savings that they allotted for your undergraduate degree that you can use for law school.

In conjunction with the other tips (such as having a scholarship and attending an affordable school) you could live at home with family. When you live with your parents, your parents are actually paying increased costs in utilities, groceries, and other expenses so they are paying for your cost of living.

Further, you can request family and friends to contribute to the costs of your books or other school supplies such as a computer or a Microsoft word subscription. You could even ask if someone can pay for a monthly food delivery service such as Blue Apron or HelloFresh. All these requests can minimize your monthly costs so you can graduate law school debt-free.

Be creative in your requests from your network and you may find that people are willing to and may even want to support you.

Conclusion

Graduating Law School debt-free is a lofty goal, and most law school graduates will not be able to graduate without taking out hefty student loans. If you consider one (or all!) of these tips, you can get your JD and be financially set to do whatever you want with it!

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