Is It Worth It?: The Debt of Law School

Welcome to my first action project for my STEAM course Econ: Risking Value. Over the past 6 weeks, we have been looking at different economic terms like incentives, supply and demand, opportunity cost, and more. We also have been working on math concepts like matrices, compounding interest, and accruing interest. These concepts are ones that can be applied to everyday life. The guiding question for this project was "How do you determine the value of your college education?" in order to help us determine the answer to the question "What will you be doing after you graduate?” Keep scrolling down to see how I approached these questions.

I interviewed a family friend about her experiences as a lawyer:

1. Where did you go to law school and do you regret your decision to attend this law school?

   I graduated from the University of Illinois at Urbana Champingan Law school back in 2014. I do not regret my decision to attend this school because most of the interactions I had with the professors and my colleagues were very nice. I know a lot of women of color who went to law school and have not shared the same nice experience I had.

2. What were your biggest concerns after graduating from law school?

There was a lot! one being the stress of taking the bar exam and possibly not passing. Two was the fear that I was not going to get a high enough paying job, which then contributed to my fear that I would not be able to pay off the massive student loan debt. Lastly, I was afraid I was not going to be treated fairly due to the color of my skin and my due to my sex.

3. Most of the time, women of color opt-out of achieving something like attending law school and becoming law because it is a field that is predominantly white males. What are some words of encouragement you would give for that kind of thinkers?

     First, I would say it's 2020, not 1950. If you have a passion for helping people if you like to read and write A LOT, and if you find the law interesting, then there is no reason for you not to pursue this incredible field. I am not saying it will be easy because it won't. You will face a lot of microaggressions, and you will be in a lot of debt; However, the results of your hard work will all be worth it. 

                        

In the end, this project was the most real-world applicable yet. It was a bit frightening to see such large sums of money that I will eventually have to pay up. This project was very eye-opening to me because it got me thinking about my future in a financial sense, which is something I rarely do. Of course, it does not take into account every single financial aspect like taxes or even assets, yet it still gives a general idea of what my future might look like.

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