ambivalent comment

The debt feels different to everyone. I've lived w/debt since about age 19 when I was paying my own way through undergrad (although w/help from scholarships). The debt has only grown since then after an M.A. program and now nearly two years of law school. The amount of my loans is truly astounding to some, and w/no wealthy family or other resources to fall back on, what am I doing? Living. I've never had much money, yet I've always been able to make do and live a good life, which has taught me that he, it's only money.;-) And while I might sound cavalier about all this debt, that's only b/c I have no other choice at this point. I can either let it ruin my life, or I can just accept it and keep moving. When I first started thinking about law school, I decided I'd only go if I could go for free (via scholarships). That didn't happen, but by the time I figured that out I'd mentally decided to go anyway. Dumb idea. I could have done a million other things. But I decided to do this, so here I am. And the debt really sucks, but now that it's settled on my shoulders, I have no choice but to live w/it. It only sucks when I start thinking about how great it would be to travel, or buy a motorcycle, or a new computer.... But since huge bills are a fact of law school, if you're going to have to finance law school w/loans and you can't take $130k in loans w/out making your stomach churn, I'd say these are your options: 1) Don't go to law school. 2) Go to a cheaper and lower-ranked school where you'll qualify for more merit-aid. 3) Go as an evening student or part-time student and pay as you go. The thing is, while I don't have much choice about the debt at this point, you still do. I'd take those stomach-churnings pretty seriously if I were you. Have you checked out Should You Really Be A Lawyer? yet? If not, it might be worth a look to see if it can help you find ways to either justify the debt or make a different decision....