Law school is expensive. There is no way around it. Before attending law school, you should think about how you are going to pay back your law school loans—should you have any. It may be a boring exercise. It may even be nerve-wracking. However, putting in the hard work now will save you from headaches down the road.

Some helpful questions to consider include the following:

● What are the estimated costs of attendance for every school that you’re targeting?
● Realistically, how are you going to pay for law school? Is it mostly loans? Almost entirely loans? Or a good amount of out-of-pocket cash?
● What is the average indebtedness of graduates from your targeted law schools? Along with that, how successful are those graduates in finding the job that you would like after graduation?
● Are you comfortable with the financial consequences of choosing your number one career choice, even though you may not necessarily like the job and it may take decades to pay off your loans?
● If you are seeking a career in government or public interest work, will your job be covered by loan forgiveness programs like the PSLF or LRAPS?

Answering these questions will go a long way towards helping you avoid mistakes and make the best financial decisions.