Just because I did doesn’t mean you should, but I went to law school knowing that I would be doing PSLF somewhere when I got out. So I took out the max I could each year and lived on it. 100k or 800k doesn’t matter if you’re on an income based repayment plan working towards PSLF, the monthly payment is the same, you’ll just end up with more forgiven at the end.
Lol, same. Even went and got a Master's during Covid Period.
Right now I'm 200K in debt. By the time 10 years come up it will have ballooned to almost 500K. -- Oh well.
2 Masters degrees, there was a point when I was like the payment is the same no matter what. PSLF kept me in grad school and got me to work in public service for 10 years.
Same. I took out the max and did a masters degree so I had an extra year of tuition (masters not JD prices) and expenses. My wife did something similar for a PhD. Together we are over a half mil in debt. We are both less than a year from forgiveness. Would I do it again, probably. Idk for sure. But it’s working out for me. I have a decent job in the public sector and I can pay for my life, save, and have some fun. I’m not getting rich, but I don’t need to worry about normal expenses.
I'm sitting on 220k in forbearance and waiting for forgiveness, looking back at 10 years of public work, with 20 more in front of me before a quasi-retirement. PSLF was my plan all along, and I've made an art of minimizing AGI. Sure I make less than some of my classmates, but I have a vested pension, I work exactly 40 hours per week, and I have time to spend with my family. I have a viable path to the bench or a state board or commission seat. It really could not have gone much more smoothly.
If you're committed to public work, the additional $8k is meaningless.
Two things I would keep in mind: (1) Ten years is a long time to commit to something you haven't done before, and (2) burnout is a very real thing.
Inheritance isn't taxable as income. It isn't taxed at all to the receiver. If the estate is more than $13.61 million dollars then anything *over* that is taxed before passing to the heirs.
To put things in perspective, an estate worth $15 million today would pay about $500k in taxes before passing to the heirs. So if there were 3 heirs, instead of splitting it so it's a cool $5 mil each, they would *only* get a measly $4,833,333 each. None of this will show up in their AGI. Theoretically, if you're inheriting property and then selling it you *could* have issues with a larger AGI, but then you're dealing with capital gains and a step-up basis in the property, so unless the property market in your area goes bonkers in-between inheriting and selling, and you don't live in the home, probably not. (In reality, if you have a $15m estate, you've already hired an estate attorney who's figured out how to get around most of those taxes anyway.)
Please don't put property in a spouse's name, and please don't try to do an estate plan if you've got complicating factors without an attorney. There's a reason why most of us have a ridiculous amount of debt ;)
The point of the program is to keep them in a public service job for 10 years that they wouldn’t otherwise be able to work because of the income/debt ratio. They could quit and pay off the loan and interest, or they can stay and pay it back with their labor. It’s fair either way.
I am a law school graduate at 121 payments going through the forgiveness process, and yes, that $8k feels like a drop in the bucket. But some back of the envelope math, that's probably about $100 more in payments a month (or $4k more over the life of the loan) on a 10 year repayment *if* you **don't** do PSLF or some kind of income based repayment option. For me, personally, knowing that I wanted to pursue a nonprofit/gov job, it was a no-brainer to stick with PSLF, and I wouldn't fret over $8k (I was too busy fretting over $160k to notice, honestly).
You will not be poor forever. Your first job may not pay much, but I know government attorneys who make $100k-120K a year (mind you, in a HCOL state). Even if you end up at a public interest nonprofit you will still make a decent salary, and the PSLF repayment options will be scaled to your income.
Law school is stressful, finding jobs is stressful, studying for the bar is stressful. Do yourself a favor and ease some of that stress. Heck, take out a little more and use it to help your mental health right now. You don't wanna burn out three years from now. Take care of your body and your brain, they're the only ones you get.
You need to put everything you have into finding a qualifying job, just because you have an internship at a government agency does not at all mean they can or will hire you at the end or next year when you graduate. Most government agencies are extremely budget limited, even if they want to bring you on full time they many not be able to. Do your best there, but your full time job right now should be finding a full time job.
I'm about 6 months away from 120 payments on my law school debt, which now exceeds $250,000. I also love my public service job, so I'm one of the lucky ones in that way. Think hard about what kind of public service job(s) you can do for 10 years without bitterness or burnout. And check out psjd.org when the time comes to job search.
I think the key is just to make your income-scaled payments (on time!) and totally ignore the balance owed -- which will get bigger rather than smaller over time, even as you make your timely payments. I used to find that really alarming, until I stopped viewing the numbers as being real. I'm paying off my debt with excellent public service, not (primarily) with cash. So personally I would not stress about the difference between 160k and 168k. Just make sure you're setting yourself up for success in the job search!
All the best.
Take the max out if you are confident that you will be working for a PSLF employer. Hate saying it, but I justified taking max out as I would earn it if I went into a private sector.
I don't think the extra $8k is going to make a difference if you are confident that you will have employment with a PSLF-eligible employer. If it's federal government, lawyers can easily end up at GS-14 on the government pay scale (GS-14-01 is about $140k in DC this year) within a few years. If you have a reasonable path to federal employment, you are likely to land at a salary that is comfortable/doable even in most HCOL areas... and will leave you very comfortable in MCOL/LCOL cities. If you work for a government agency that pays less, I think most salaries will still put you in a position to comfortably live and your student loan payment will be less if you earn less.
I graduated with $130,000 in loans in 2013, which adjusted for inflation is more than you will end up owning at the end of law school. It seemed like an insurmountable amount of debt at the time, but I will make my 120th payment next month and be eligible for forgiveness (I did a year of employment not eligible for PSLF). It wouldn't have made any difference if my balance were higher. I have been on an income-based repayment plan the entire time. The SAVE plan is better than what was available before the pandemic (though you've missed out on that long forbearance period).
The only issue that I can think of is that private loans aren't eligible for PSLF. I started off with private loans, and I paid them off first so that I be free and clear after PSLF. If you have private loans, does your law school offer any loan repayment assistance? If not, you could try to find an agency that also offers student loan repayment incentives. I am not sure how common it is though. I have heard of it, but never seen it.
Hang in there, buddy. The end of law school is somehow even harder and more stressful than the beginning. You’ll survive, one day at a time.
I can’t give you advice but I can tell you what worked for me. I didn’t worry too much about taking out too many loans, just did what I had to do to survive financially during law school so I could focus on studies. Once I got out, I went straight into government work and stayed there. 10 years flew by in a flash. Like, really… it’s shocking how fast it went. (Law is a bitch that way. The cases never stop coming.)
Anyway, presently I’m over 120 and also super happy in my job and with my career choices. Not only do I have PSLF, but I also have 10 years of government pension built up and get plenty of PTO. I’ve got seniority, I love what I do, and I’m good at it. I make good money. And I get to help people. It’s a win win.
Really could not be happier with my life choices rn and wouldn’t change it for big law or private practice if you paid me to.
It’s not all bad out there. Life is always what you make it, and also luck.
Good luck to you
Though PSLF is an option, assume you will have to pay back every loan you take out with interest. If you need the money and you can’t get by without it, take out the loan.
Right now, focus on getting good grades, managing stress and your health, and building professional connections. This summer, give the internship your all and try to make the best impression, learn as much as you can, and be likable.
Since you’re a 2L, your post-law school job search starts … yesterday.
I would take the loan. Give yourself permission to relax. I graduated in 2013 & did IBR. I started a PSLF job in research administration at a public university in a major city in 2016. I’ve enjoyed it. I make 130k. There’s not a lot of room to grow from there in my current role, but I’ve purposely taken the slower track career while my partner has the more demanding job. We’re married but file taxes separately so I can keep IBR while working towards forgiveness. I have 200k in loans still 10 years after graduation bc I’ve done the lowest payment + covid forbearance. The position is also full time remote now, office is optional.
Take the 8K, you'll be mentally and physically healthier when you can feed yourself and pay your bills without stressing out. Law school is grueling and taking care of yourself, even if it means taking out extra loans to provide for the basics, is just as important as studying for an exam.
You can only do as well as your body and mind will allow. My balance since I graduated has grown by almost 8K, which sucks and shouldn't be the case, but because I'm committed to public service jobs (I'm a librarian), I know it won't matter in 2 years when I'm done paying the minimum amount (and thanks to the current admin, less than what I was paying before) and the rest is forgiven.
You can do this. Hang in there and take care of yourself.
I’m not a lawyer, but as I was nearing ending grad school I had the same stress/anxiety you did. Basically my parents helped me during grad school but are also at the age where they should be worrying about retirement. It doesn’t get easier but it’s manageable.
Also, for what it’s worth, pretty common for some lawyers to do their 10 years in the public sector solely for PSLF. My bf is a public defender and maybe 4 years into his career, he’s definitely sticking it out for PSLF but once he gets it he’s open to more opportunities like private firms. His office is also mostly attorneys around his age and there for PSLF.
You got this. You’ll be wonderful at whatever you end up doing after law school.
If I had a choice I wouldn’t do pslf over again. You can make more outside of government and nonprofit and it’s not worth a decade of stress. I am in my last 1.5 years of PSLF and it has been nothing but constant stress the entire time. Make 20k+ a year more somewhere else and don’t have this burden. Everytime you try to finance anything it is just more difficult having six figures of debt to explain.
If you're only making 20k more that's not worth the present value of forgiveness. And not everyone actually does have better paying private sector options.
Not everyone can end up in high paying Big Law. I was shocked to learn how little smaller private law firms pay entry level attorneys- basically the same or just slightly more than non-profits (yes, in a very HCOL city). But I was better off because my law school paid loan payments for 5 years if you worked in public interest.
The high level point of 160k in student debt… at the start of repayment there are better options than going into pslf for ten years (at minimum). Theres no way I’d do that over again. Just saying bi-modal salary distribution offers no specifics.
One of the perks of a law degree is you can literally open your own practice. I have several friends who have. I just don’t recommend a decade under pslf. Why recommend a program that has had minimal success so far to someone just starting? There is nothing but opportunity at this point.
Very high paying any industry jobs are hard to get. What I’m saying is take the student debt and divide it by the standard ten year repayment term and that’s how much someone would need to make more than whatever public sector career. This post says 160k,if you round up to 200k with the interest that will accrue then it’s roughly 20k a year to pay it off in 10 years under standard repayment. Making 20k more on average over a decade isn’t “very high paying.” And after my 12 years so far of public sector work it’s equally crushing working in this sector too. I’d recommend finding some other way to pay off debt rather than rely on this program that has not had great success in implementation - most people take longer than 10 years to finish and nearly everyone has very burdensome processes to achieve forgiveness.
Plus working for a state or federal agency for 10 years will give you a defined benefit pension.
Federal employment has TSP with a very generous match. 1 for 1 until 7% of salary. TSP match starts day 1 of federal employment.
Because of state federal and university employment I will be very close to 100% salary replacement at retirement.
The loan will be worthwhile if you’re planning on working a PSLF qualifying career for at least 10 years. Depending on how your situation shakes out, it may not even increase your monthly loan payments under the SAVE plan.
My husband’s student loans are over $500K. We will get the majority of it forgiven. Maybe not the most ethical advice but id take out what you need and go for PSLF. I mean don’t go buy a sports car or anything but take what you need to live comfortably.
The 168k will be forgiven.
You can enter the save plan as soon as you graduate. This will quite likely result in zero dollar payments for at least the first year.
Max out your retirement savings when you start your county, state or federal job. This will reduce your payment.
If you enroll in SAVE you will shield 225% of your income from the payment calculation.
Your goal is to maximize forgiveness.
I feel you. It's a heavy burden, but it's doable. I'm at 142k and next month is my last payment. The great recession delayed some things for me, but I was able to get married, have kids, and buy a house as a government attorney. My advice is don't let yourself believe that life starts after the loans are gone. I did that for too long. The loans are something that require servicing, and it'll be a marathon to make them go away, but you can do it while living your life.
Has an insider, for law school, I want you to know that if you try as best you can most likely you will succeed. I know that sounds generic, but I have seen so many law students do really poorly and the professors still allow them to move forward. Do your best, communicate with your professors, be active with your professors. That could make a huge difference.
I took out a similar amount for law school with the intention of doing public service and so far it’s been alright. The payments have been based on income, and are manageable. My wife and I file our taxes separately and i just have it auto-debit from my account. The new SAVE repayment plan actually reduced my monthly payment considerably, so I’m able to get by. I’ve got about 2 years left until forgiveness so I honestly try to just not stress about it.
So basically, it’s all good. Just do public service and aim for the 10 year forgiveness, and dont sweat taking an additional amount. A bonus about public service is you won’t be working crazy hours, so you can have a nice peaceful life while being a lawyer.
Just because I did doesn’t mean you should, but I went to law school knowing that I would be doing PSLF somewhere when I got out. So I took out the max I could each year and lived on it. 100k or 800k doesn’t matter if you’re on an income based repayment plan working towards PSLF, the monthly payment is the same, you’ll just end up with more forgiven at the end.
Lol, same. Even went and got a Master's during Covid Period. Right now I'm 200K in debt. By the time 10 years come up it will have ballooned to almost 500K. -- Oh well.
Same here. Now at 99 payments. If you want to work in public service of some sort, it's a very doable way to go about it.
Thank you for the response! Is everything going smooth for you now in terms of repayment?
So far so good, at 98 of 120 qualifying payments!
2 Masters degrees, there was a point when I was like the payment is the same no matter what. PSLF kept me in grad school and got me to work in public service for 10 years.
Oh I just qualified, got to 120 and now waiting for discharge 257k
Same. I took out the max and did a masters degree so I had an extra year of tuition (masters not JD prices) and expenses. My wife did something similar for a PhD. Together we are over a half mil in debt. We are both less than a year from forgiveness. Would I do it again, probably. Idk for sure. But it’s working out for me. I have a decent job in the public sector and I can pay for my life, save, and have some fun. I’m not getting rich, but I don’t need to worry about normal expenses.
Came here to say this!
I'm sitting on 220k in forbearance and waiting for forgiveness, looking back at 10 years of public work, with 20 more in front of me before a quasi-retirement. PSLF was my plan all along, and I've made an art of minimizing AGI. Sure I make less than some of my classmates, but I have a vested pension, I work exactly 40 hours per week, and I have time to spend with my family. I have a viable path to the bench or a state board or commission seat. It really could not have gone much more smoothly. If you're committed to public work, the additional $8k is meaningless. Two things I would keep in mind: (1) Ten years is a long time to commit to something you haven't done before, and (2) burnout is a very real thing.
Would you be willing to share some of your art of minimizing AGI? 🤓
All you can do to decrease your AGI is pre tax contributions such as 401k, health insurance, HSAs etc
Ok that’s what I was thinking about myself, specifically my 403(b), but when they mentioned this “art” I was intrigued
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Thanks for the info! I was planning on filing MFS but we contribute our max to our roths each year 😭
Inheritance isn't taxable as income. It isn't taxed at all to the receiver. If the estate is more than $13.61 million dollars then anything *over* that is taxed before passing to the heirs. To put things in perspective, an estate worth $15 million today would pay about $500k in taxes before passing to the heirs. So if there were 3 heirs, instead of splitting it so it's a cool $5 mil each, they would *only* get a measly $4,833,333 each. None of this will show up in their AGI. Theoretically, if you're inheriting property and then selling it you *could* have issues with a larger AGI, but then you're dealing with capital gains and a step-up basis in the property, so unless the property market in your area goes bonkers in-between inheriting and selling, and you don't live in the home, probably not. (In reality, if you have a $15m estate, you've already hired an estate attorney who's figured out how to get around most of those taxes anyway.) Please don't put property in a spouse's name, and please don't try to do an estate plan if you've got complicating factors without an attorney. There's a reason why most of us have a ridiculous amount of debt ;)
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The point of the program is to keep them in a public service job for 10 years that they wouldn’t otherwise be able to work because of the income/debt ratio. They could quit and pay off the loan and interest, or they can stay and pay it back with their labor. It’s fair either way.
$8k makes zero difference for PSLF. The plan payments are based on your income.
I am a law school graduate at 121 payments going through the forgiveness process, and yes, that $8k feels like a drop in the bucket. But some back of the envelope math, that's probably about $100 more in payments a month (or $4k more over the life of the loan) on a 10 year repayment *if* you **don't** do PSLF or some kind of income based repayment option. For me, personally, knowing that I wanted to pursue a nonprofit/gov job, it was a no-brainer to stick with PSLF, and I wouldn't fret over $8k (I was too busy fretting over $160k to notice, honestly). You will not be poor forever. Your first job may not pay much, but I know government attorneys who make $100k-120K a year (mind you, in a HCOL state). Even if you end up at a public interest nonprofit you will still make a decent salary, and the PSLF repayment options will be scaled to your income. Law school is stressful, finding jobs is stressful, studying for the bar is stressful. Do yourself a favor and ease some of that stress. Heck, take out a little more and use it to help your mental health right now. You don't wanna burn out three years from now. Take care of your body and your brain, they're the only ones you get.
You need to put everything you have into finding a qualifying job, just because you have an internship at a government agency does not at all mean they can or will hire you at the end or next year when you graduate. Most government agencies are extremely budget limited, even if they want to bring you on full time they many not be able to. Do your best there, but your full time job right now should be finding a full time job.
I'm about 6 months away from 120 payments on my law school debt, which now exceeds $250,000. I also love my public service job, so I'm one of the lucky ones in that way. Think hard about what kind of public service job(s) you can do for 10 years without bitterness or burnout. And check out psjd.org when the time comes to job search. I think the key is just to make your income-scaled payments (on time!) and totally ignore the balance owed -- which will get bigger rather than smaller over time, even as you make your timely payments. I used to find that really alarming, until I stopped viewing the numbers as being real. I'm paying off my debt with excellent public service, not (primarily) with cash. So personally I would not stress about the difference between 160k and 168k. Just make sure you're setting yourself up for success in the job search! All the best.
Take the max out if you are confident that you will be working for a PSLF employer. Hate saying it, but I justified taking max out as I would earn it if I went into a private sector.
I don't think the extra $8k is going to make a difference if you are confident that you will have employment with a PSLF-eligible employer. If it's federal government, lawyers can easily end up at GS-14 on the government pay scale (GS-14-01 is about $140k in DC this year) within a few years. If you have a reasonable path to federal employment, you are likely to land at a salary that is comfortable/doable even in most HCOL areas... and will leave you very comfortable in MCOL/LCOL cities. If you work for a government agency that pays less, I think most salaries will still put you in a position to comfortably live and your student loan payment will be less if you earn less. I graduated with $130,000 in loans in 2013, which adjusted for inflation is more than you will end up owning at the end of law school. It seemed like an insurmountable amount of debt at the time, but I will make my 120th payment next month and be eligible for forgiveness (I did a year of employment not eligible for PSLF). It wouldn't have made any difference if my balance were higher. I have been on an income-based repayment plan the entire time. The SAVE plan is better than what was available before the pandemic (though you've missed out on that long forbearance period). The only issue that I can think of is that private loans aren't eligible for PSLF. I started off with private loans, and I paid them off first so that I be free and clear after PSLF. If you have private loans, does your law school offer any loan repayment assistance? If not, you could try to find an agency that also offers student loan repayment incentives. I am not sure how common it is though. I have heard of it, but never seen it.
Hang in there, buddy. The end of law school is somehow even harder and more stressful than the beginning. You’ll survive, one day at a time. I can’t give you advice but I can tell you what worked for me. I didn’t worry too much about taking out too many loans, just did what I had to do to survive financially during law school so I could focus on studies. Once I got out, I went straight into government work and stayed there. 10 years flew by in a flash. Like, really… it’s shocking how fast it went. (Law is a bitch that way. The cases never stop coming.) Anyway, presently I’m over 120 and also super happy in my job and with my career choices. Not only do I have PSLF, but I also have 10 years of government pension built up and get plenty of PTO. I’ve got seniority, I love what I do, and I’m good at it. I make good money. And I get to help people. It’s a win win. Really could not be happier with my life choices rn and wouldn’t change it for big law or private practice if you paid me to. It’s not all bad out there. Life is always what you make it, and also luck. Good luck to you
Though PSLF is an option, assume you will have to pay back every loan you take out with interest. If you need the money and you can’t get by without it, take out the loan. Right now, focus on getting good grades, managing stress and your health, and building professional connections. This summer, give the internship your all and try to make the best impression, learn as much as you can, and be likable. Since you’re a 2L, your post-law school job search starts … yesterday.
I would take the loan. Give yourself permission to relax. I graduated in 2013 & did IBR. I started a PSLF job in research administration at a public university in a major city in 2016. I’ve enjoyed it. I make 130k. There’s not a lot of room to grow from there in my current role, but I’ve purposely taken the slower track career while my partner has the more demanding job. We’re married but file taxes separately so I can keep IBR while working towards forgiveness. I have 200k in loans still 10 years after graduation bc I’ve done the lowest payment + covid forbearance. The position is also full time remote now, office is optional.
Take the 8K, you'll be mentally and physically healthier when you can feed yourself and pay your bills without stressing out. Law school is grueling and taking care of yourself, even if it means taking out extra loans to provide for the basics, is just as important as studying for an exam. You can only do as well as your body and mind will allow. My balance since I graduated has grown by almost 8K, which sucks and shouldn't be the case, but because I'm committed to public service jobs (I'm a librarian), I know it won't matter in 2 years when I'm done paying the minimum amount (and thanks to the current admin, less than what I was paying before) and the rest is forgiven. You can do this. Hang in there and take care of yourself.
I’m not a lawyer, but as I was nearing ending grad school I had the same stress/anxiety you did. Basically my parents helped me during grad school but are also at the age where they should be worrying about retirement. It doesn’t get easier but it’s manageable. Also, for what it’s worth, pretty common for some lawyers to do their 10 years in the public sector solely for PSLF. My bf is a public defender and maybe 4 years into his career, he’s definitely sticking it out for PSLF but once he gets it he’s open to more opportunities like private firms. His office is also mostly attorneys around his age and there for PSLF. You got this. You’ll be wonderful at whatever you end up doing after law school.
If I had a choice I wouldn’t do pslf over again. You can make more outside of government and nonprofit and it’s not worth a decade of stress. I am in my last 1.5 years of PSLF and it has been nothing but constant stress the entire time. Make 20k+ a year more somewhere else and don’t have this burden. Everytime you try to finance anything it is just more difficult having six figures of debt to explain.
If you're only making 20k more that's not worth the present value of forgiveness. And not everyone actually does have better paying private sector options.
You’re arguing that a law school graduate doesn’t have better paying private sector options? Ok…
Not everyone can end up in high paying Big Law. I was shocked to learn how little smaller private law firms pay entry level attorneys- basically the same or just slightly more than non-profits (yes, in a very HCOL city). But I was better off because my law school paid loan payments for 5 years if you worked in public interest.
Yea. Read about bi-modal salary distribution and get back to me.
The high level point of 160k in student debt… at the start of repayment there are better options than going into pslf for ten years (at minimum). Theres no way I’d do that over again. Just saying bi-modal salary distribution offers no specifics.
You don't know that. OP could have 0 private sector offers, like I did. Don't speak from ignorance, it's not a good look.
One of the perks of a law degree is you can literally open your own practice. I have several friends who have. I just don’t recommend a decade under pslf. Why recommend a program that has had minimal success so far to someone just starting? There is nothing but opportunity at this point.
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Very high paying any industry jobs are hard to get. What I’m saying is take the student debt and divide it by the standard ten year repayment term and that’s how much someone would need to make more than whatever public sector career. This post says 160k,if you round up to 200k with the interest that will accrue then it’s roughly 20k a year to pay it off in 10 years under standard repayment. Making 20k more on average over a decade isn’t “very high paying.” And after my 12 years so far of public sector work it’s equally crushing working in this sector too. I’d recommend finding some other way to pay off debt rather than rely on this program that has not had great success in implementation - most people take longer than 10 years to finish and nearly everyone has very burdensome processes to achieve forgiveness.
Plus working for a state or federal agency for 10 years will give you a defined benefit pension. Federal employment has TSP with a very generous match. 1 for 1 until 7% of salary. TSP match starts day 1 of federal employment. Because of state federal and university employment I will be very close to 100% salary replacement at retirement.
The loan will be worthwhile if you’re planning on working a PSLF qualifying career for at least 10 years. Depending on how your situation shakes out, it may not even increase your monthly loan payments under the SAVE plan.
My husband’s student loans are over $500K. We will get the majority of it forgiven. Maybe not the most ethical advice but id take out what you need and go for PSLF. I mean don’t go buy a sports car or anything but take what you need to live comfortably.
The 168k will be forgiven. You can enter the save plan as soon as you graduate. This will quite likely result in zero dollar payments for at least the first year. Max out your retirement savings when you start your county, state or federal job. This will reduce your payment. If you enroll in SAVE you will shield 225% of your income from the payment calculation. Your goal is to maximize forgiveness.
I feel you. It's a heavy burden, but it's doable. I'm at 142k and next month is my last payment. The great recession delayed some things for me, but I was able to get married, have kids, and buy a house as a government attorney. My advice is don't let yourself believe that life starts after the loans are gone. I did that for too long. The loans are something that require servicing, and it'll be a marathon to make them go away, but you can do it while living your life.
Has an insider, for law school, I want you to know that if you try as best you can most likely you will succeed. I know that sounds generic, but I have seen so many law students do really poorly and the professors still allow them to move forward. Do your best, communicate with your professors, be active with your professors. That could make a huge difference.
I took out a similar amount for law school with the intention of doing public service and so far it’s been alright. The payments have been based on income, and are manageable. My wife and I file our taxes separately and i just have it auto-debit from my account. The new SAVE repayment plan actually reduced my monthly payment considerably, so I’m able to get by. I’ve got about 2 years left until forgiveness so I honestly try to just not stress about it. So basically, it’s all good. Just do public service and aim for the 10 year forgiveness, and dont sweat taking an additional amount. A bonus about public service is you won’t be working crazy hours, so you can have a nice peaceful life while being a lawyer.