Canadian Lawyer 4Students

24 F A L L 2 0 1 5 C A N A D I A N L a w y e r 4 S T U D E N T S 24 F A L L 2 0 1 5 C A N A D I A N L a w y e r 4 S T U D E N T S 7 steps to managing law school debt It's a small thing, but understanding the terms of your student loans — what you owe, when, and to whom, and what the interest rates are — is important, if for nothing else than to reduce your own stress, says Jeff Schwartz, executive director of Consolidated Credit Counseling Services. "The fi rst thing that we would suggest so [students] don't get discouraged or frustrated with the fact that they're carrying this debt load or that they see it mounting along the way is to get organized," Schwartz says. Still, student debt is something that Hinal Ghelani, a University of Ottawa law student going into her second year, says is an ever-present concern. "The fi rst year of law school is what they say is the hardest of all of your three years, and then having the stress of debt on top of it, it just adds to it and it creates more stress," she says. "It's not very conducive to doing better in school because you're worried about everything." Christine Hunter, the manager of admissions and student fi nancial services at Osgoode Hall Law School, agrees with Schwartz. "[Students should] understand the costs really well, so that includes understanding the costs of not just one year of law school but the full three years," she says. "Just planning ahead and understanding what are the tuition costs and what are the living costs and making a budget and a plan for the three years." Living expenses such as food, and course requirements such as textbooks, are unavoidable, but there are ways to cut down on the costs of both. At the beginning of the year, check used bookstores and textbook exchange groups on Facebook for reduced pricing. When buying groceries, Frey pays attention to grocery store sales. "I use fl yers when I go grocery shopping. I'm just very price conscious," she says. "Some of my friends don't do this, but if strawberries are really expensive one week, I'm not going to buy them. It's just not in the budget." Being frugal also means cutting back on what Brent Vandermeer, a portfolio manager with HollisWealth, calls the "social budget ," which encompasses expenses such as eating out regularly and partying. The cost of law school tuition varies from school to school, and going with the less expensive option of your top choices can help to cut back the amount of debt you'll need to pay off . At the University of Windsor, for example, tuition is $9,000 a semester, and, at the University of Ottawa, it costs just more than $8,000 per semester. At the University of Toronto, it's $15,000. "I didn't apply to [the University of ] Toronto — their tuition is over and above anywhere else," says Vanessa Frey, a University of Windsor student starting her second year. "When I graduate from law school, I don't want to be in the situation where I'm taking any and every law job just because I have this debt that's putting a time pressure on me." It can be an intimidating process, but making a budget — even an informal one — is essential. "Many Canadians don't budget, and, in many cases, it's really because they're afraid. Either they're afraid of not knowing how to do it, or they're afraid of what they might fi nd," Schwartz says. But, he adds, budgeting "is a great opportunity to take a step back, once you've put that all down on paper, to really understand how you're spending your money." With that knowledge comes the power to change spending habits that might be aggravating your debt load. To cut down on the cost of food, Christina Bender, another University of Windsor law student going into her second year, says she has a food budget. "I do meal planning to make sure I don't spend more on food than I need to, and I don't ever eat out. I just can't aff ord it," she says. 1 2 3 4 $ $ $ $ Price out law school options Make a budget Know your loans and your costs Be frugal Know what you're spending and make a budget to keep debt under control. F or most students, taking on debt is an expected but unwelcome part of the law school experience — and many start out with a handicap in the form of debt from their undergraduate degree. But how can you keep your debt from getting unmanageable? We asked fi nancial advisers, managers at law school fi nancial aid offi ces, and a few law students about how to keep student debt in check.

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