I really am just posting this to have a little pity party and whine about my student loans. Everyone keeps telling me that they are an investment in my future, that it is totally worth it. However, my income now only permits me to make the minimum payment on my loans right now and it just kills me to think how long it could take to pay them off.
I have federal loans, and I did consolidate those at a really good interest rate, so those don't scare me too much. It is the private law loans that I took out to go to law school. Those interest rates are comparable to a credit card. Even with a co-signer that has awesome credit, the best rate I can get is Prime (around 8-9%) and the rates are variable. I may as well as just charged it on my Visa! The minimum payments are still rather large and the amount of interest I pay seems outrageous!
I am sure that I am not alone here. Any of you have any encouraging words? Is there light at the end of the tunnel?
I have no encouraging words. Loans suck. Almost everyone I know who went to law school makes way less than a six figure salary. I'll definitely be paying these back for the next 25+ years. And yeah, I have private loans as well. I love when they send me a notice every 3 months telling me my interest rate has gone up. (Or however often they send them.) Lovely.
I hate them. I hate them. I hate them. Stupid Sallie Mae and your stupid interest rates. Stupid Private Law School who charges more than Harvard. Stupid Board of Regents at Stupid Private Law School who raised tuition prices EVERY year. Stupid Stupid Stupid. Where are these six figure salaries? I refuse to believe they exist.
__________________
It's pronounced "Johnny," like the boys name....but spelled like an Indian Zuchini.
Well, I can say something positive (I hope): if not for student loans, only the kids of rich elites would be able to go to law school, and the profession would suffer radically. Lawyers would be as bad as...journalists, for example.
I'm so incredibly grateful that people who weren't born with silver spoons and trust funds can go out and study law, become lawyers, and work for fairness and justice, however it may be defined. Even be judges! You guys are superheros.
Does "the Man" make it easy and affordable for everyone? Of course not. "The Man" wants people like you to fail and give up. But aside from your own future, everyone's future is involved. Whether you're a corporate lawyer defending your company's good reputation, or a divorce attorney who makes sure children aren't suffering, or a prosecutor getting criminals off the streets, or a D.A. preventing the accused from having their civil rights trampled, or working to solve real estate disputes, or protecting intellectual property and patents on products that will change the world, or reviewing contracts to make sure your client is getting the best possible deal...what you do is remarkable and I honor you.
(You can probably see my understanding of the profession is basically limited to TV, but there ya go. Rah rah!)