I found the calculator, unfortunately at a time it was broken but am just not sure about this; currently I'm working for government and if I sign up for this, my Federally Subidized loan will have reduced payments and if I work for eligible entities and make payments for ten years while I'm in this program, the remainder of the debt will be forgiven.
Because my job is temporary, I don't know if this is worth it; I keep hearing rumors that a position will come open but it hasn't yet happened; I have less than four months to go, though it's possible my position would be extended. Because I have a few other questions, I'm not sure this is the way to go.
If you look at the fine print, while the cap is 15% of income, it's based on household income, not individual's income. The problem I have with that is that student debt is owned by the student, not the spouse; in effect, with the higher payments with joint income, the spouse is required to pay on this loan. That doesn't make sense to me. If I change to this, my payments go down a couple hundred bucks; if I were married to someone with a job so had higher household income, my payments would go up.
The interest rates are higher than on my current debt and people who graduated a few years after me have even lower rates so not necessarily a good idea. When employment is so uncertain, this might not be that good of a deal for those of us currently mired under in debt. Especially for those married folks who would have higher payments and higher interest.
Showing posts with label education. Show all posts
Showing posts with label education. Show all posts
Sunday, July 19, 2009
Sunday, March 15, 2009
Recessions Effect on Lawyers
Who are they trying to kid? There has been a glut of lawyers on the market for a generation; I'm working on a project with an attorney who graduated from Law School in 1976 and says the market was bad then and has never improved. They keep churning out lawyers.
In my state, there are four law schools and there were too many attorneys graduating before the 4th school opened. In fact, the university started its own law school only after having been rejected in its bid to buy the stand-alone law school.
While I saw an ad today, many of the 25 or so attorneys with whom I last worked on a project are currently out in the cold, collecting unemployment. I met up with four experienced attorneys for cocktails a couple of weeks ago, only two of whom were working at the time. A corporation that was a steady workhorse for one of the agencies outsourced its document review to its location in India a year ago. At first, they had a higher level review done in-house, but I think they've even stopped that; they're just not using contractors in their US facility.
The last review on which I worked was quite complicated; it was a techno-IP project and I don't believe the associates at the firm really understood everything. We muddled through it, with protocols determined, some of which were later changed, and learned to notice the keywords we needed. We worked closely with the associates, unlike on most reviews so came through it pretty well. I'm skeptical that it would be done as well in a foreign country; while I know some companies in India have their outsourcers work the afternoon shift, so they're in the office during US office hours, not all of them do so.
There will be more and more innovations and fewer and fewer traditional law practices but I doubt it will stop anyone from applying to law school. I have a neighbor who wants to go to law school. She's planning on going in 2010. I think she's nuts and so do her parents; she thinks she'll be the exception and be the one to get the high grades and get the job that she wants. Because I know her education history, I'm a bit skeptical that she'll get the grades and the job.
She wants to work in the non-profit world, which is great if the economy is doing well; it sounds easy to get into an entry-level position, but one of the things you don't necessarily see coming is someone from a big law firm or the AG's office downsizing their life once loans are paid off. No matter what experience you or I have, those people trump it.
Case in point? I worked with an attorney who saw a posting for the perfect non-profit job for her. She procrastinated a bit and wasn't one of the first people to respond. Even worse for her? An attorney who had experience with the AG's office applied and, of course, got it based on his experience with the AG. Another case? One of my networking contacts worked for BIG law for a few years, paid off her loans and downsized to the AG's office. After several years there she moved to an environmental non-profit.
I hope my neighbor realizes that with the economy in shambles, borrowing for an expensive private law school isn't going to be the best bet for her future. I wish I had had someone to un-recommend law school for me when I applied.
In my state, there are four law schools and there were too many attorneys graduating before the 4th school opened. In fact, the university started its own law school only after having been rejected in its bid to buy the stand-alone law school.
While I saw an ad today, many of the 25 or so attorneys with whom I last worked on a project are currently out in the cold, collecting unemployment. I met up with four experienced attorneys for cocktails a couple of weeks ago, only two of whom were working at the time. A corporation that was a steady workhorse for one of the agencies outsourced its document review to its location in India a year ago. At first, they had a higher level review done in-house, but I think they've even stopped that; they're just not using contractors in their US facility.
The last review on which I worked was quite complicated; it was a techno-IP project and I don't believe the associates at the firm really understood everything. We muddled through it, with protocols determined, some of which were later changed, and learned to notice the keywords we needed. We worked closely with the associates, unlike on most reviews so came through it pretty well. I'm skeptical that it would be done as well in a foreign country; while I know some companies in India have their outsourcers work the afternoon shift, so they're in the office during US office hours, not all of them do so.
There will be more and more innovations and fewer and fewer traditional law practices but I doubt it will stop anyone from applying to law school. I have a neighbor who wants to go to law school. She's planning on going in 2010. I think she's nuts and so do her parents; she thinks she'll be the exception and be the one to get the high grades and get the job that she wants. Because I know her education history, I'm a bit skeptical that she'll get the grades and the job.
She wants to work in the non-profit world, which is great if the economy is doing well; it sounds easy to get into an entry-level position, but one of the things you don't necessarily see coming is someone from a big law firm or the AG's office downsizing their life once loans are paid off. No matter what experience you or I have, those people trump it.
Case in point? I worked with an attorney who saw a posting for the perfect non-profit job for her. She procrastinated a bit and wasn't one of the first people to respond. Even worse for her? An attorney who had experience with the AG's office applied and, of course, got it based on his experience with the AG. Another case? One of my networking contacts worked for BIG law for a few years, paid off her loans and downsized to the AG's office. After several years there she moved to an environmental non-profit.
I hope my neighbor realizes that with the economy in shambles, borrowing for an expensive private law school isn't going to be the best bet for her future. I wish I had had someone to un-recommend law school for me when I applied.
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