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How long will I be paying off my college debt if I go for an undergrad and law school?

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Jeanette’s Answer

You will first need to get at least a ball park estimate of how much money you will borrow.  Pick out a few schools that you are interested in and get information about how much it will cost to get a degree.   There are websites that have calculators that can help you determine how long it will take to pay off a student loan.  By researching the internet I located

https://cgi.money.cnn.com/tools/studentloan/studentloan.html

https://www.bankrate.com/loans/student-loans/how-long-to-pay-off-student-loan/

https://www.bankrate.com/loans/student-loans/how-long-to-pay-off-student-

https://www.credible.com/blog/calculators/student-loan-repayment-calculator/

Jeanette recommends the following next steps:

Pick two or three colleges and law schools that you might be interested in and do research to find out how much it generally costs to get a degree. School websites should have information about tuition and admissions offices should be able to guide you to relevant information.
Once you get the financial information try out one of the student loan calculators that I listed above to get an estimate of how long it would take to pay off your student loan.
Explore options to assist you in financing your education. Seek out scholarships or grants for which you might be eligible. Explore schools that have work/study programs. Look for law schools that have night programs (I believe Georgia State University has one) so that you can work at least part time during the day.
Consider going to college part time and working to at least reduce the amount of student loans that you need. In addition, research law schools to fi nd out if they have part time law school programs.
Learn as much as you can about student loan programs and options for financing your education. The internet should have a wealth of information. Consider going to a state school where you are a resident to keep costs down.
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Jay’s Answer

It depends on the amount of money that you borrow, but it could be 25 years or longer though. Don't let that amount of time intimidate you! If you borrow money for college and law school, are able to fulfill your dreams, have a good life and pay off the debt over time, the amount of time should not matter. Consider homeowners. Everyone who buys a house borrows money and pays off their mortgage over 30 years. Homeowners don't avoid taking out a loan just because it will take 30 years to pay off. They know it's a good investment and as every year passes, the monthly loan payment is a smaller amount of their income than the year before.

You need to think about debt for college and law school in the same way. Is borrowing money a good investment? If you are a dedicated student who will finish school and get a degree, it's a great investment. Of course, you need to think about what you want to do and how much money you want to borrow. If you want to be a kindergarten teacher, it may not be worth it to go to an elite college that costs $70,000/year. If you want to be a public defender where your future salary will be low, it may not worth it to go to an expensive private law school that might cost $100,000/year. On the other hand, if you want to be a computer programmer at Google, it's worth it to pay the price to attend Carnegie Mellon. If somehow you know that you want and will get a job at the biggest law firms, it might be worth it to attend a private law school.

Don't forget about scholarships! If you need to borrow money to attend college, it's likely you will qualify for a scholarship and work study so you won't need to borrow every dollar to pay tuition.

Personally I attended a Top 5 college and paid for it with a combination of scholarships and debt. I then attended a top tier law school, but purposefully chose a public law school instead of a private law school because I didn't want the burden of high debt.

Jay recommends the following next steps:

Visit studentaid.gov to learn more about student debt and to complete the FAFSA form.
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