Sooner or later I was going to have to figure out how to pay for law school. Up until now school was a remote possibility or the schools I was getting into were offering me gobs of money. I have a feeling this won't be the case at any school that I actually decide to attend. The mere cost of moving from AK is a staggering amount, 5k minimum and topping out at 10k if we ship the car and take all of our stuff. I'd almost rather pay less and spend that money on all new stuff once we're there. As a matter of fact I'd almost rather sell everything, fly down on miles, live with relatives and spend nothing to move. Not reasonable considering that I would never be able to pare down my clothes to two suitcases let alone get rid of my wedding album, nice dishes or my 800 thread-count sheets.
Does anybody know whether financial aid is negotiable? Has anybody had any luck convincing a school to offer you scholarships when none were previously offered, especially this late in the cycle? Fat chance. I know. Well then, here's another question, I know that for undergrad there are scholarships everywhere you turn, from writing a new commercial jingle to poetry contests to female engineering scholarships (my personal favorite); do these exist for law school? Or is it all just loans, debt or savings wipe out? I will definitely be trolling the archives of frugal law students: Frugal Law Student, Running With Scissors and Laws of Finance for advice. it's not that I totally can't afford school, but having a savings account and an emergency fund feels really good. Being able to make my Roth IRA grow is also nice. Wiping out 10k to move to school, followed by $26,320 for just tuition for a year is a hard pill to swallow especially when taken with the one-two punch of the loss of one income (mine) and the serious decrease of another (hubby's, Army doesn't pay as well). It all reminds me of a scene in the movie White Christmas. The characters scheme up a way to do something nice for the old man who taught them how to peel a potato in the Army, the forgotten general. When Danny Kaye asks Bing Crosby what it's all going to cost the reply is the now classic: "Somewhere between ouch and POING!" That's exactly how I feel right now.
