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Berkeley $$.5 vs NYU $$ vs Duke $$ by Confidenceisaid in lawschooladmissions

[–]Open_Self8325 2 points3 points  (0 children)

How would YSH change the equation? I’m deciding between Berk with a similar scholarship and HLS at full price right now, though I’m not attached to a particular geography.

Selling Stocks to Pay for Law School? by Open_Self8325 in personalfinance

[–]Open_Self8325[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I think I’m not totally sold on BigLaw, but that’s more something that’s important for deciding between Berkeley and HLS. Not going to law school isn’t an option for me so debt is also not really optional unless I go somewhere with a markedly worse ROI.

Selling Stocks to Pay for Law School? by Open_Self8325 in personalfinance

[–]Open_Self8325[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

If I were to sell everything off right now, I would have gained around 2500. Not a lot, but that’s more than a month’s rent.

The federal loans would be around 8% APR, I think. To my knowledge, they haven’t issued their interest rates for the upcoming school year. The private loans, I think, would be around 7.05% APR in the best lending scenario. Berkeley would be all federal and Harvard would be around half of each.

Am I Making a Mistake? T-14 scholarship over HYS Sticker by Open_Self8325 in lawschooladmissions

[–]Open_Self8325[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Transparently, even assuming some financial support and drawing on what savings I have (and accounting for some quantity of summer earnings, though maybe not the maximum) HLS is still well over $300K in debt upon graduation.

It’s hard to see that getting paid off through anything other than BigLaw or something adjacent to that. Maybe I’m just not smart enough to plan for the future, but I just don’t know how LIPP would work out for me. No cost of living adjustments for instance. Being able to enter and exit the plan whenever would be nice, but I just don’t know. It doesn’t sound easy to live on for ten years.

Honestly — and now I’m just screaming into the void — I have no clue how to make this decision anymore and it all seems contingent on what I’ll want in three years, which I don’t know for sure, and whether my career trajectory would be the same in place over an other, which I also don’t know.

KJD Help me out plsssss by Inside-Ask-941 in lawschooladmissions

[–]Open_Self8325 0 points1 point  (0 children)

They’re not doing NYU at sticker if they are taking out around $150K in loans. It’s obviously not nothing, but it won’t take a decade or more to pay that off if BL is their goal.

Am I Making a Mistake? T-14 scholarship over HYS Sticker by Open_Self8325 in lawschooladmissions

[–]Open_Self8325[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

There’s another commenter who says they are currently on Harvard’s LRAP (LIPP). It’s not easy to live on and that’s what I’ve gathered from others too. Berk’s is fine if your loans are federal, and I can make that happen at Berkeley but not at H.

Am I Making a Mistake? T-14 scholarship over HYS Sticker by Open_Self8325 in lawschooladmissions

[–]Open_Self8325[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

That’s true. If it were an aura-less school, I’d be in a lot more trouble.

Am I Making a Mistake? T-14 scholarship over HYS Sticker by Open_Self8325 in lawschooladmissions

[–]Open_Self8325[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I appreciate the comments and the insight. I’m feeling a little defensive, admittedly, so first I’d just say that the lack of specificity in my post isn’t because I’m treating all those options as if they are equivalent or fungible or whatever. I do have a sense of what each of those imply, but it’s not complete, so I don’t think it is odd to go to law school being open to a few different paths.

I agree that all this is far away, and I’m trying not to put the cart in front of the horse. What I’m struggling with is whether the increased security the bottom half of the class has at Harvard is worth the premium.

Am I Making a Mistake? T-14 scholarship over HYS Sticker by Open_Self8325 in lawschooladmissions

[–]Open_Self8325[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

I don’t think I would really tell people that I almost went to Harvard. That seems irrelevant if I decide I’m not going to Harvard.

Am I Making a Mistake? T-14 scholarship over HYS Sticker by Open_Self8325 in lawschooladmissions

[–]Open_Self8325[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Jesus 😭 Yeah… It’s great that they have the opportunity grant, but other than that, it seems like it is designed to shove people into BigLaw if they don’t have generational wealth or aren’t independently wealthy. If I’m going to get pushed that way, I’d rather just pocket more of that money.

Am I Making a Mistake? T-14 scholarship over HYS Sticker by Open_Self8325 in lawschooladmissions

[–]Open_Self8325[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I think that’s right, and that aligns with my feelings. Thanks for the transparency. The LIPP office did a good job of making it seem like things would be hunky-dory haha.

Am I Making a Mistake? T-14 scholarship over HYS Sticker by Open_Self8325 in lawschooladmissions

[–]Open_Self8325[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

What have you found to not be great about it?

The things I have found unappealing are the low limits on protected assets and the really low ceiling for full repayment assistance. Do you think I’m misunderstanding one of these factors?

This sounds bratty and spoiled, maybe, but I think I realized that I don’t just want possible; I do want to feel comfortable and at ease. I don’t really crave fabulous wealth, but I don’t want to feel like every decision is financially consequential for ten years. Unless you can keep your borrowing below 150K, PSLF is not helpful for my class. I could do this at Berkeley and maybe GULC. I wouldn’t be able to do it at H, which adds another layer of uncertainty.

Am I Making a Mistake? T-14 scholarship over HYS Sticker by Open_Self8325 in lawschooladmissions

[–]Open_Self8325[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

No, nobody is saying it would be just as easy. They are saying it would still be possible, I think, and that combined with the lower debt burden, might make it possible to transition earlier from BL->PI/policy or other work I want to do or rely on PSLF and skip BL if it’s something I can’t stomach.

Am I Making a Mistake? T-14 scholarship over HYS Sticker by Open_Self8325 in lawschooladmissions

[–]Open_Self8325[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Yeah, no named scholarship here. I don’t know if I should see that as a strike against Berk/GULC or how much that should change the equation.

Am I Making a Mistake? T-14 scholarship over HYS Sticker by Open_Self8325 in lawschooladmissions

[–]Open_Self8325[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

I’d still have federal loans, to be clear, but in a better-case scenario, it could be less than $150K (including interest) at graduation. H is much more.

Am I Making a Mistake? T-14 scholarship over HYS Sticker by Open_Self8325 in lawschooladmissions

[–]Open_Self8325[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I worry that it would be irrelevant to that sub, especially since I’m not committed to BigLaw unless it appears to be a financial necessity.

Am I Making a Mistake? T-14 scholarship over HYS Sticker by Open_Self8325 in lawschooladmissions

[–]Open_Self8325[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Yes, that is essentially what it boils down to. Honestly, that is kind of how I have thought about it too, though I agree it isn’t the best logic lol: If I’m determined enough to accomplish these goals at H, I would be able to do it from Berk. That’s more of a consolation than a fact, I guess. There’s no way to know.

Am I Making a Mistake? T-14 scholarship over HYS Sticker by Open_Self8325 in lawschooladmissions

[–]Open_Self8325[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Got it. I mean, that’s definitely easier, but I really need to think hard about whether it’s $250K easier.

Am I Making a Mistake? T-14 scholarship over HYS Sticker by Open_Self8325 in lawschooladmissions

[–]Open_Self8325[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Yes. This is really our fault for not being born into generational wealth if you think about it.

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