Slaying Goliath II: Saving Money for Law School

I started law school immediately after college.  This means I jumped into professional school without really understanding the nuances of loans, finances, or how to pay for my cost of living when I had only ever had small part-time retail jobs/work study.  Now that I’m years removed, there are quite a few things I would do different, but the main thing I would change is my approach to paying for law school.  Since I always knew I wanted to be a lawyer, I should have started taking the financial aspect more seriously and started planning and saving from the beginning.   Of course, hindsight is twenty/twenty so instead, all I can do is encourage everyone to try to get ahead of the the game to limit the amount of debt you accrue.  If you’re still in college or are working and plan to apply to law school in a few years, then these tips may be useful for you!  Ultimately, you want to attend to the school that best fits your needs at a price you can (almost) afford.

One. Research and analyze everything.  The best thing you can do is research and learn as much as possible about your select schools and the city you will live in while attending school.  Try to see if there are any news articles about tuition hikes or freezes within your selected options.  What fellowships are offered by the schools?  What special scholarships are available?   Take post-law school employment rates with a grain of salt, but what are the percentages?  Any articles about the schools fudging their reports?  Outside of tuition, you also want to compare the cost of living in the city/town where the school is located.  Can you pay rent? Can you commute? Will you have to drive or take public transportation?  And then of course, learn everything you can about the loan process to see what is your best option.   The objective in knowing as much as you can is that you’ll make smart choices and feel secure in your decision, once it’s time pay the law school deposit.

Two.  Increase your analytical skills.  If you’re going to commit three years of your life and likely over $100,000 in student debt, then you need to be hardcore about saving money and one way to do that is to increase your analytical skills.  If you can up that skill, you may earn a higher grade on the LSAT, which can translate to higher/better scholarship options by the schools that admit you.  There are tons of courses and books that you can use to increase your skills.  But what I’m really suggesting is to start lightly studying for the LSAT now, even if you don’t have an exam deadline in mind.  Do it now so that when it’s time to take an actual course and you buckle down with a real study schedule, you already know a little bit more than starting from scratch and that can really help your grade.

Three. Start saving money.  Easier said then done, I know.  We spoke briefly about starting a budget, but saving money is a little different.  Start putting a reasonable amount away in some account you won’t touch.  I don’t care if it’s a piggy-bank and you’re saving your change! The idea is to start getting in the practice of saving and being frugal.  Even if by the time you start school, you have only saved a couple hundred dollars–that will help pay for supplementals,  or a new suit, or even your law school deposit!

Overall, if you still have some time on your hand before the application process begins, start seeing that time for the gift that it is!  The more knowledge, skill, and money you earn the better the process will be for you.