Financing Law School ??

[JudgingJudy]

I cant seem to find another thread on this, but I have been wondering how do people afford to be a full time law student, and live close to law school ( I live quite far from where I got accepted) and afford to pay rent, good, and law school tuition? 

A line of credit is 100,000 and tuition is 23K a year. Am I missing something obvious, because if rent is close to the high 1000's a month it doesn't work. And for where I am looking to rent (the city itself has high rent). 

 

 

Am I missing something obvious? 

[CleanHands]

Combination of LOC, student loans, summer employment, bursaries, and scholarships.

[GGrievous]

People get student loans, family support, bursaries, grants and scholarships. LOC is usually around 135k. Some work part time during the year or full time during the summer.
 

How people afford it will vary so much by student, the school they go to, and their lifestyle.

[Apple]

If you budget $2000.00 a month for living expenses (which in my view is perfectly reasonable, although you may not be living in the ideal environment) you're total over three years is $140,000.00 for all expenses. With $100,000.00 LOC that leaves you to come up with $40,000.00 over three years. Student loans will, conservatively, give you $8000.00 a year. That leaves you to come up with $17,000.00 over three years. If you make $6000.00 a year in employment you've got all the money you need. These numbers of course can be lower depending on you getting bursaries and more income elsewhere. 

In order to afford law school you really need to budget and stick to the budget. Work hard inside and outside the classroom, apply for bursaries and government funding and be okay with sacrificing non-essential things. 

[JudgingJudy]

3 hours ago, Apple said:

If you budget $2000.00 a month for living expenses (which in my view is perfectly reasonable, although you may not be living in the ideal environment) you're total over three years is $140,000.00 for all expenses. With $100,000.00 LOC that leaves you to come up with $40,000.00 over three years. Student loans will, conservatively, give you $8000.00 a year. That leaves you to come up with $17,000.00 over three years. If you make $6000.00 a year in employment you've got all the money you need. These numbers of course can be lower depending on you getting bursaries and more income elsewhere. 

In order to afford law school you really need to budget and stick to the budget. Work hard inside and outside the classroom, apply for bursaries and government funding and be okay with sacrificing non-essential things. 

Thank you for this breakdown! This makes a lot of sense. This might be a very stupid question but when you say student loans for the 8K you are referring to OSAP is that correct? 🙂

[Apple]

1 hour ago, JudgingJudy said:

Thank you for this breakdown! This makes a lot of sense. This might be a very stupid question but when you say student loans for the 8K you are referring to OSAP is that correct? 🙂

No problem! Yes, I am referring to OSAP or any other type of governmental loan programs in other provinces (although I've only ever interacted with OSAP). Hoping the planning goes great for you as you prepare for law school!

I cannot stress enough how good of an idea it is to actually budget (i.e., with excel or Microsoft word). I recall putting together an annual budget for each year of law school during the summer before 1L. It'll help you know what finances are actually and then keep you from having to worry about them as you go through school - so long as you stick with the plan!  

[JudgingJudy]

15 minutes ago, Apple said:

No problem! Yes, I am referring to OSAP or any other type of governmental loan programs in other provinces (although I've only ever interacted with OSAP). Hoping the planning goes great for you as you prepare for law school!

I cannot stress enough how good of an idea it is to actually budget (i.e., with excel or Microsoft word). I recall putting together an annual budget for each year of law school during the summer before 1L. It'll help you know what finances are actually and then keep you from having to worry about them as you go through school - so long as you stick with the plan!  

Thank you once again! Thats exactly my plan. I will def be doing that. Merry Christmas to you! 

[legaljustice]

On 12/22/2021 at 9:01 AM, Apple said:

If you budget $2000.00 a month for living expenses (which in my view is perfectly reasonable, although you may not be living in the ideal environment) you're total over three years is $140,000.00 for all expenses. With $100,000.00 LOC that leaves you to come up with $40,000.00 over three years. Student loans will, conservatively, give you $8000.00 a year. That leaves you to come up with $17,000.00 over three years. If you make $6000.00 a year in employment you've got all the money you need. These numbers of course can be lower depending on you getting bursaries and more income elsewhere. 

In order to afford law school you really need to budget and stick to the budget. Work hard inside and outside the classroom, apply for bursaries and government funding and be okay with sacrificing non-essential things. 

I thought student loans gave you that plus 1,600$ for rent and food. 

[Apple]

On 4/17/2022 at 9:07 PM, legaljustice said:

I thought student loans gave you that plus 1,600$ for rent and food. 

You thought student loans would give you $100,000 plus an additional $1600 a month? Like actually? 

[QueensDenning]

On 12/21/2021 at 9:49 PM, JudgingJudy said:

I cant seem to find another thread on this, but I have been wondering how do people afford to be a full time law student, and live close to law school ( I live quite far from where I got accepted) and afford to pay rent, good, and law school tuition? 

A line of credit is 100,000 and tuition is 23K a year. Am I missing something obvious, because if rent is close to the high 1000's a month it doesn't work. And for where I am looking to rent (the city itself has high rent). 

 

 

Am I missing something obvious? 

For most people OSAP will cover the vast majority of tuition (not all of which you have to repay - I think I've been getting like $6-8K a year in grants). So the line of credit on top of that is more than enough to cover living expenses. Most people also make a minimum of like 10K per summer for 1st year and 2nd year. 

[legaljustice]

On 4/22/2022 at 4:49 PM, Apple said:

You thought student loans would give you $100,000 plus an additional $1600 a month? Like actually? 

No? The 100k is from the LOC. BC student loans gives 1600 for rent. 

[Turtles]

55 minutes ago, legaljustice said:

No? The 100k is from the LOC. BC student loans gives 1600 for rent. 

You might be referring to the "living allowance" which is just a set amount they use as part of calculating what reasonable living expenses would be in the determination of whether your need exceeds your resources. This is not how much you actually get.

BC offers a maximum of $320/wk in combined federal+provincial loans for students with no dependents or disabilities, i.e., ~$1300/mo in loans or $10,880 total for a 34-week school year. You can also get grants (non-repayable) but those have various conditions (the most common being the Canada Student Grant for Full-Time Students, which is on a sliding scale based on family income thresholds). The maximum grant is $6000 but you get $0 if your family income surpasses the maximum threshold ($63k/yr for a family of one; 89k for a family of 2; 106k/yr for a family of 3). Keep in mind the government doubled the grant due to COVID but that is set to sunset in 2023. 

To put that in perspective, if you're from BC and entering an Ontario school, your combined government student loans and grants will be less than your tuition, meaning you will need to fill that gap, plus living expenses, through alternate funding (bursaries, scholarships, paid work, PSLOC, etc). If you're from BC and going to school at UBC or UVIC, government funding will probably more than cover tuition. But TRU students will have as hard a time as those going to Ontario.  

BC Student Loan amounts: https://studentaidbc.ca/sites/all/files/school-officials/allowances.pdf

CSG thresholds: https://www.canada.ca/en/services/benefits/education/student-aid/grants-loans/full-time.html

Edited April 27, 2022 by Turtles