How to pay for law school
A little knowledge about the financial aid process and available options will go a long way in lowering your stress as you fund your legal education. During this event, an Accredited Financial Counselor from AccessLex Institute will discuss cost of attendance, the financial aid application process, and the types of aid available to law students.
A well-built budget is the best tool for making student loan refunds last all year, managing lifestyle and expenses, tracking debt, and planning for big expenses like the bar exam during law school. During this event, an Accredited Financial Counselor from AccessLex Institute will walk you through how to build a budget that accounts for each of these items and more.
This session hosted by the Berkeley Law Financial Aid Office on November 17, 2022 covers strategies to minimize student loan borrowing and maximize scholarships.
Whenever you make a big financial commitment like attending law school, it’s important to understand what you’re planning to get out of it. A legal education can pay tangible and intangible dividends over your lifetime. In this session, we’ll discuss how to calculate your law school ROI and share resources that can help you optimize it. Hosted by AccessLex Institute.
Taxes
Staffers from the University of California – Office of the President hosted this webinar to help with tax filing questions pertinent to UC graduate and professional students on February 23, 2023.
Loan repayment
Choosing a repayment plan that fits your budget and payoff goals is the first step in student loan management. During this event, an Accredited Financial Counselor from AccessLex Institute will walk through the payment options available for federal student loans, including income-driven repayment, Public Service Loan Forgiveness, the benefits and drawbacks of consolidation, and more.
LRAP & PSLF
This session hosted by the Financial Aid Office on February 23, 2023 covers Berkeley Law’s Loan Repayment Assistance Program (LRAP) for J.D. graduates working in law-related, public interest jobs. We also dive into other programs to help you manage your student loans like federal Public Service Loan Forgiveness (PSLF) and Income-Driven Repayment (IDR), and touch on new topics, like the pending debt cancellation litigation and proposed new PSLF and IDR regulations.
The Public Service Loan Forgiveness program enables employees working for qualified public service employers to achieve forgiveness of their federal Direct student loans after 120 monthly payments on a qualified repayment plan. During this session, an Accredited Financial Counselor from AccessLex Institute will review the details of and recent updates to the program, as well as the steps you need to take to get on the right track for forgiveness.
Four Berkeley Law alums answer questions about how they were successfully able to get their student loans forgiven using the federal Public Service Loan Forgiveness program. Hosted by the Berkeley Law Financial Aid Office on March 14, 2022.
Walk through the best practices for successfully obtaining Public Service Loan Forgiveness (PSLF) with Amanda Prasuhn from Berkeley Law’s Financial Aid Office and Suzanne Martindale from the California Department of Financial Protection and Innovation. We cover the PSLF rules, how to review your loans and fill out the PSLF Form, navigating studentaid.gov, the new PSLF Waiver, and what to do if something goes wrong. Hosted by the Berkeley Law Financial Aid Office on May 23, 2022.