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how much in student loans is too much?? (1 viewing) (1) Guest
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TOPIC: how much in student loans is too much??
#4782
D.Vanicora (User)
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how much in student loans is too much?? 2 Years, 5 Months ago Karma: 0  
My tuition alone is $31K and i plan on having my student loans come in at $40k to cover R&B. At this rate, I'll end up around $120K in the hole when I graduate!! (Assuming summer jobs and accrued interest cancel each other out.) I'm kind of freaking out about it, but then again, I have no idea what people pay for law school. Is this too much?
 
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#4794
laurie (User)
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Re:how much in student loans is too much?? 2 Years, 5 Months ago Karma: 0  
I wouldnt borrow more than tuition if you can help it. While subsidized student loan rates are at about 6%, take 6% on 120k and thats 7,200 year in interest or 600/month. So, if you plan starting with the end in mind: Get out of law school, make $85k, less taxes you have say $48k then, less your personal expenses, it would take you 20 years to pay off law school. So, unless you are independently wealthy, come from money, or marry rich, it will be hard to break even.

Where are you going to law school? What is your GPA?
 
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#4842
Wizkid (User)
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Re:how much in student loans is too much?? 2 Years, 4 Months ago Karma: 2  
120k in LS debt is no biggie if you land a $100k++ job to start. However, if you get out of LS with no job offers or a starting salary of $50k then it will take you a while to recoup your investment. So, the debt is good debt if it helps you land a better paying job. What are your stats: LS; GPA; rank?
 
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#4856
Tom Weselman (Visitor)

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Re:how much in student loans is too much?? 2 Years, 4 Months ago  
I think a good rule of thumb is that if you're a student, your payments shouldn't exceed 10% of your expected monthly gross income once you graduate.
If you're a parent, all your debts -- including mortgage payments, credit cards, car loans and education loans -- shouldn't eat up more than 35% of your gross pay.
 
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#4871
D.Vanicora (User)
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Re:how much in student loans is too much?? 2 Years, 4 Months ago Karma: 0  
In this job market who knows what my monthly income will be. I'd love to say foresure that i have a job lined up, but its no possible. So, my only choice is to continue building up law school debt and hope that i can pay it off before my kids co to college. Has anyone discharged their law school debt or a portion of it?
 
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#4922
TomWeselman (Visitor)

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Re:how much in student loans is too much?? 2 Years, 4 Months ago  
Look at it this way. if you have $120,000 in law school student loans and you get a job for $75K then after taxes you have $50k per year as disposable income. If you spend 50% of the income then you will have $25k remaining to pay the loan. That would take you 6 years. So, it will take you approximately 6 years to pay off your law school student loans. Thats about the same time that it would take you to payout a vehicle. Not a back deal.
 
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