BC != BU.
No kidding. I went to BU and taught at BC, and I'll be goddammed if I know who to root for in hockey.
The 2010 national champions, of course!
Open letter to BC Law School's dean to leave and get a refund
11–20 of 24 posts
Re: Open letter to BC Law School's dean to leave and get a refund
#12The proposed "trade" is so mind-numbingly unbalanced that I am fully convinced this is just a joke and commentary on the job market for law students.
Re: Open letter to BC Law School's dean to leave and get a refund
#13Salaries for Law School graduates are bimodal. Most people will over-estimate the rewards:
http://lawprofessors.typepad.com/legal_profession/2009/06/th...
Re: Open letter to BC Law School's dean to leave and get a refund
#14The guy could still go pass the bar and practice law. So maybe he shouldn't get a full refund... that education is worth something.
Re: Open letter to BC Law School's dean to leave and get a refund
#15Aren't you paying for your professor's time? It's like saying, "thanks for making that website for me, but I don't think I'm going to make any money, so I want my money back". Uh, too bad.
Just default on the loans and move to a deserted island if you don't want to pay them.
Re: Open letter to BC Law School's dean to leave and get a refund
#16I'm not sure about the loans you get to go to law school, or the loans he got, but I was under the impression that student loans are something that you can't get out of if you declare bankruptcy, just like alimony or something like that. Asking for a refund is the only way out. Though I disagree with the idea that a refund is fair. Schools aren't exactly flush with cash to be handing back to students who leave or fail out...nor should they be. It's just another reason to finish a degree to make yourself THAT much more marketable.
I fail to see how sticking it out and finishing something like a JD is somehow worse in the long run (financially) than leaving with somewhere around 100k (I assume) that you will have to pay back to creditors with interest.
Re: Open letter to BC Law School's dean to leave and get a refund
#17Maybe he should get a refund. Because if part of a law school education is being able to construct a convincing argument based on the evidence you present, then I think he has been shortchanged.
Re: Open letter to BC Law School's dean to leave and get a refund
#18I'm not sure about the loans you get to go to law school, or the loans he got, but I was under the impression that student loans are something that you can't get out of if you declare bankruptcy, just like alimony or something like that. Asking for a refund is the only way out. Though I disagree with the idea that a refund is fair. Schools aren't exactly flush with cash to be handing back to students who leave or fai…
The whole reason for the open letter is for a refund so he can immediately pay off those debts
Re: Open letter to BC Law School's dean to leave and get a refund
#19I have sympathy for this guy but look nobody promised you a job when you took on those loans. It is basic risk reward. You took on a lot of loans to get a law degree because lawyers get paid well. You took on risk and it did not work out. Happens. Often too entrepreneurs.
Not only do law schools more or less lie about employment stats, the Fed subsidizes the loans so there is no signal to the consumer in the form of borrowing rate as to how risky the undertaking is. Also there is a disconnect between the cultural cachet of law as a profession and the modern reality, and tuition rates have absolutely exploded as a result of schools milking the government teet, all at the detriment of the students. Law is really winner take all. The winners get $160k/yr starting and 60-70 hour workweeks and will pay off their loans in roughly 10 years at ~$1500-$2000 a month. The "losers" will, after 9 months of searching, start at $30k (not necessarily in law) and will die in debt. It's really not as simple as risk/reward, as most things in life are not.
Re: Open letter to BC Law School's dean to leave and get a refund
#20just wait for that bubble to pop if this transitions from merely disgruntled graduates to defaulting higher education graduates en masse. If you think it's an unfair risk that you might not get a job _just_ because you have a J.D. wait till it gets bad enough for the loan lenders recalculate their risks. They'll tighten the belt on student loans across the board making them far less accessible.