561: Real Talk About the Law School Loan Landscape (w/Teria Thornton from AccessLex)

So before we get into what's changing about students' loans or what's changed, I guess, [laughs] it has changed.

So this isn't a future cast.

This is what has changed.

Give us a snapshot of where things stood for law students before July 2025 because that's really when the changes hit.

So how did the typical JD students finance their degree, and what did debt look like when they graduated?

Mm-hmm.

That's a great question.

So I always start off with my Golden Girls reference.

It's like, "Picture it.

It's Italy, 1922", right?

[laughs]

But it's not as, I guess, picturesque as that.

But most people use federal loans if they're eligible, right? So we know that-

Yeah

... international students and DACA recipients are not eligible for federal loans.

But it was always a combination of hopefully scholarships, whether they're going to be internal or external to the law school.

But how people pay is going to include usually a loan, and again, historically that has been a federal loan.

So there were two loans that are still currently in play until July 1st of 2026, which is right around the corner at this point.

Mm-hmm.

So you have a direct unsubsidized loan.

That is a maximum of 20,500 for graduate and professional students.

And then that glorious Grad PLUS loan, that would help cover the difference all the way up to the student's cost of attendance.

So it's always been some form of scholarship, hopefully, for the student, but primarily it has been federal loans.

While private loans have always remained in the market, they just weren't as prevalent as they are probably going to be moving forward.