4 answers
Racheal
Student
Las Vegas, Nevada
1
Question
Asked
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Scholarships and Study methods for incoming Law students
Hello, my name is Racheal and I'm 16. I'm an early graduate and I just want fro more understanding of incoming college life. I want to be able to be independent and pay for college myself since I know my family can't. Please help me out I know it's a simple question but everyone studies differently and I want to adopt more study methods that you see as the most effective. #college #law #business #criminal-justice #colleges
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4 answers
Deijana Lebron
Executive Asssistant
31
Answers
Fishkill, New York
Updated
Deijana’s Answer
Check with your program you are entering at the school sometimes they have scholarships for incoming freshmen that you can work towards beforehand. Other resources like the College Board can connect you with hundreds of scholarship opportunities for all majors and grades.
Thank you. I have tried College Board and it was a big help thanks to this comment.
Racheal
Germaine Walker
Cybersecurity
2
Answers
Hillside, Illinois
Updated
Germaine’s Answer
There are several options available to you. There are scholarships, public service, and school loans. I recommend going the public service route which is join the military. You can survey your country and also gain knowledge to be a lawyer through the military. Not only do you gain the knowledge from law school there, but you also have a unique experience that your peers may never have, giving you a competitive advantage. That's something you can really say on your resume. The best part is this is paid for by the military. The next option is scholarships. You gain scholarships by having exemplary performance in arts, sports or other areas in high school that colleges really have a demand for. So that's why they offer scholarships to get those students with those skills at their schools. In return you get to have a free or almost free education. Lastly, there's option of school loans. He may be surprised of the requirements to get a school loan. The negative of this is that you have to pay back the school loans eventually back so please be sure to look at this Department of labor's data on salaries for the jobs that you choose. That way you know the return on investment in education that you have and the ability for you to pay back these loans. I hope this
This actually was a lot of help. Thank you. I have been told to join the military and now that I know it’s very common route it helps relieve a lot of the pressure. I really appreciate the help. Thank you!
Racheal
Emmy Leone
18
Answers
Updated
Emmy’s Answer
Hello Rachael,
In addition to what has already been mentioned, I would also suggest looking into being a Resident Assistant (RA). This will likely not be available to you as a freshman, but is an option after that at most campuses that have resident housing. Additionally, when my partner was in law school he was also able to be a RA, which helped to offset much of the costs for him. He lived on a floor of high performing upper classmen so very little was needed from him and did not distract him from his studies. This is one key thing he often recommends to people looking to offset costs for college expenses.
Best Wishes,
Emmy
In addition to what has already been mentioned, I would also suggest looking into being a Resident Assistant (RA). This will likely not be available to you as a freshman, but is an option after that at most campuses that have resident housing. Additionally, when my partner was in law school he was also able to be a RA, which helped to offset much of the costs for him. He lived on a floor of high performing upper classmen so very little was needed from him and did not distract him from his studies. This is one key thing he often recommends to people looking to offset costs for college expenses.
Best Wishes,
Emmy
Rachel Gonzalez
Staff Research Associate
3
Answers
San Francisco, California
Updated
Rachel’s Answer
I was also in a situation where my family could not help me pay for college, so I have a lot of suggestions for this! First and foremost, make sure to file your FAFSA (https://studentaid.gov/h/apply-for-aid/fafsa) on time. This evaluates your/your family's income to decide if you are eligible for federal grants and loans. Grants are awesome because it's just straight up free money from the government, but your family would have to be fairly low income to qualify for them. Most likely, you'll qualify for federal loans, which I definitely recommend taking out instead of private loans, because the interest rates are lower. Applying to scholarships was also hugely helpful for me! Wherever you end up going, look up scholarships on your school's website, because there are typically a lot of good ones and it's a smaller applicant pool (i.e. less competitive). Also, google general scholarships for your field, or for any specific groups you consider yourself part of -- there are scholarships for specific races/ethnicities, women in STEM, first generation college students, etc.
Practically speaking, I also recommend saving money by going to a community college for 2 years and living at home to save money. This was something I ended up doing because my family just couldn't find a way to make the money work, and I was really bummed about it at the time, but ultimately I knocked out all of my GE classes for super cheap and then had the option to transfer to basically any school I wanted because I had excellent grades and even competitive schools are easier to get into as a transfer than as a freshman. Also, if it feels manageable, find a flexible job that you can do during school so you can cover your living expenses along the way. There are plenty of great on-campus jobs (I worked at my university's tutoring center during graduate school), and service industry jobs like retail or restaurant work tend to be flexible for students. If you can make money along the way, you won't have to worry about building up quite as much debt, which really takes some weight off.
Practically speaking, I also recommend saving money by going to a community college for 2 years and living at home to save money. This was something I ended up doing because my family just couldn't find a way to make the money work, and I was really bummed about it at the time, but ultimately I knocked out all of my GE classes for super cheap and then had the option to transfer to basically any school I wanted because I had excellent grades and even competitive schools are easier to get into as a transfer than as a freshman. Also, if it feels manageable, find a flexible job that you can do during school so you can cover your living expenses along the way. There are plenty of great on-campus jobs (I worked at my university's tutoring center during graduate school), and service industry jobs like retail or restaurant work tend to be flexible for students. If you can make money along the way, you won't have to worry about building up quite as much debt, which really takes some weight off.
Thank you. I have been thinking of going to community college but I did get in to my dream school and I can’t pass an opportunity. On the other hand your advice gave me really good ideas on how to make more money without hurting my mother’s pockets. Thank you so much!
Racheal