The Cost (Dear God, Help Me)
June 8th, 2009 | 
Author: As I write this post I have by my side a glass filled with cheap wine. And not a wine glass either. A regular glass. A glass into which you might pour milk to go along with your dinner. Had I a stronger stomach (or liver), this glass might be filled with vodka or (more likely) rum. But a bottle of the corner liquor store’s finest 2008 Riesling will have to do. This writing aid is necessary as I tackle this particular topic. This will come as no surprise to anyone but:
OH DEAR GOD LAW SCHOOL IS EXPENSIVE!
It’s painful, but I’m going to disclose all the dirty details in the hopes that it proves useful to any 0L who happens upon this blog. Here is the breakdown (takes sip of wine):
Let’s just let that sink in for a moment, shall we? (takes gulp of wine)
$193,000.
That right there (plus interest) is the debt I can look forward to in May 2012 (several gulps of wine). Such a figure looks positively obscene to me, especially when I think about how I managed to come out of undergrad with debt that looks like a pittance in comparison.
Despite my strategic blunder of paying my tuition deposit before receiving my financial aid award (over-zealous much?), Columbia gave me a $20,000 grant to be distributed throughout my three years as follows: $8,000 for 1L year, $8,000 for 2L year, and $4,000 for 3L year. The rest of my award is comprised of Federal need-based loans. Apparently the US government thinks I have $40,000 lying around in a shoebox somewhere (where’d my wine go?). Alas, I do not. So, for the $40,000 difference, I will have to take out the credit-based Federal GradPLUS loan. I applied for this and have little doubt that I will receive the money I asked for so I’m not worried about a last-minute plea to a private lender. (Advice to 0Ls: You will most likely need to apply for credit-based loans so make sure you check your credit in plenty of time to resolve any issues before the time comes to apply to law school.)
Taking on this kind of debt is not for the faint-of-heart, which is why I advise those who choose law school by way of elimination as opposed to determination to choose something – anything – else. It irritates the crap out of me to meet people who decided on law school for lack of anything better to do. What else, they reason, am I going to do with this BA in English (or Philosophy or History or Sociology)? These are usually the same people who believe that the practice of law is accurately depicted by Sam Waterston.
So yes, law school is frighteningly expensive. But I’m going to do my best to never comment on that fact ever again. I’m planning future posts on the art of living on a pauper’s budget, but other than that, I refuse to stress over the massive quantities of debt. It’s a done deal. That’s Future Soleil’s problem anyway.
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This makes the $70,050 price tag at NYU (http://www.law.nyu.edu/financialaid/budgetandbudgeting/studentexpensebudget/index.htm) seem like an absolute steal. That’s a $50 dollars savings! Think of the happy meals that could buy.
Don’t forget that $71k is only the budget for 9 months of the year.
I think I need some wine now.
I chose UT over Columbia. Although I received more scholarship money from Columbia, I could not justify amassing such debt, given the collapse of the economy and the BIGLAW machine. You seem to have the right attitude, though. What’s done is done, and those that have assumed massive debt in order to obtain Ivy JD’s must try to make the best of their situations.
But lay off the alcohol.
UT employment is beyond terrible right now. 30% true unemployment at 9-months…
Any Columbia grad can still get a market-paying job…
@idwsj: “That’s a $50 dollars savings!” HAHAHAHAHA! Misery loves company.
@UTAtaraktos: On behalf of my mom, thanks for the alcohol-related advice. Good luck at UT! That’s a great school.
@ Soleil: Your mom loves you. Listen to her. And me. Thanks for the well-wishes.
@ t14 Loyalist: Unemployment rates are high at every law school. Folks from Yale, Harvard, Columbia, etc., aren’t doing much better. And, for the record, there are many Columbia grads who have not gotten market-paying jobs.
Just because a graduate doesn’t have a market paying job doesn’t mean they couldn’t have had one. I would elaborate, but as a 0L, you won’t accept the truth.
Placement at Columbia is outrageously better than UT.
You don’t have to elaborate; I get the logic.
Still, I doubt grads from New York’s premium BIGLAW factory are turning down market-paying jobs in record numbers. (Where’s your evidence?) The current economy is shitty, and NY BIGLAW is in cataclysmic condition. (What state’s legal market is in worse condition? Certainly, the Texan legal market is in better shape.) Also, while BIGLAW placement at Columbia is better than UT, its overall placement has never been OUTRAGEOUSLY better than UT’s. There’s more to the US than New York City, Chicago, and DC.
I personally know the person who graduated second to the bottom of our 2008 class. He (still) has a market paying job in Dallas, TX. I don’t know anyone who wanted to work for a firm that didn’t get market.
I also personally know a very intelligent UT student in the top quarter spending the summer as an unpaid intern at a small nonprofit because she didn’t get an offer.
Top half at UT get to interview with Houston / Dallas / Austin market paying firms, top third might actually get one of the jobs. Every student at Columbia gets interviews at V100 firms at around the country and each can actually land those jobs.
Soleil, I would like to politely disagree with UTAaraktos’s advice in regards to not drinking. It is medically advisable to drink 1 glass of wine with dinner for better heart health.
And to add my 2 cents in terms of the other topic, I think it really depends on what you’re looking to do after graduation. If you want to work for a big law firm in NYC (which Soleil probably does, given that she is FROM NYC), going to UT is a terrible idea. But if you have no problem working in a smaller legal market or staying in Texas (which I’m sure is UTA’s situation), it probably makes a lot more sense for you to avoid the debt and go to UT. There isn’t a cut and dry answer to this.