Month: June 2012

Is the legal job market creating change in legal education?

Recent reports showed that the Class of 2011 law grads faced a very difficult job market. As this author says, perhaps the challenge of placement has forced law schools to institute some much-needed change into how they deliver legal education. This is a good, well-balanced article that addresses the challenges of the job market while also acknowledging interesting (and possibly more effective) law school initiatives that have resulted from the job market. Take a look!

http://www.law21.ca/2012/06/25/law-school-revolution/?goback=%2Egde_3276613_member_128562792

 

Subsidized federal loans for graduate students end July 1

As part of the recent student loan overhaul, subsidized federal loans were eliminated for graduate students as of July 1. What does that mean? Before July 1, graduate (including law) students were allowed to borrow up to a certain amount (about $65,000) in subsidized loans, meaning that interest did not begin to accrue on those loans until after the student graduated. With the elimination of the subsidy, these loans will now begin to accrue interest as soon as they are dispersed.

Maybe it seems like this isn’t a big deal in the overall borrowing of law students. However, the Chronicle of Higher Education estimates that the subsidy for graduate students who borrowed the maximum subsidized loans ($65,000) saved them $207 PER MONTH in payments over a 10 year payoff period. That’s $24,000 more that graduate students will now be paying in interest. It’s important for students to consider the overall costs–including interest–when evaluating your educational investment.

Check out the article here: http://chronicle.com/article/Federal-Loan-Changes-May-Curb/132665/?cid=at&utm_source=at&utm_medium=en

Welcome to our new format!

For 4 years now, we’ve been sending our weekly e-newsletter, the Pre-Law Informer, to all UIUC Pre-Law students. Now we’re trying something new.

Starting this fall semester, we will be moving away from the newsletter format into this blog. We’ll still be posting the same kinds of helpful information–articles and reminders about the application process, information about upcoming events, and links to internships and job opportunities. We think this format is a major upgrade because we’ll be able to update it more easily and more frequently. Plus, we’ll be able to add links to interesting articles and websites that readers will find helpful.

We hope you enjoy this new format! Join us as say goodbye to the newsletter to join the Blogosophere.