This website has discussed how part-time academic programs can help students reduce their student loan burden. Indeed, if students attend school only on nights and weekends, it is possible that students can work jobs with the rest of their time. This can enable students to pay for part or all of their educational costs as a student. However, in certain circumstances, attending part-time programs full-time can also have an impact on your student debt burden.
One of the biggest reasons why attending part-time programs full-time can impact your student loan situation is because this can enable you to get good grades that can help you transfer schools. If you do not have a job as a part-time student, and can devote yourself to your studies full-time, you can likely do better in class. This is because many of the other students in part-time programs will not be able to study as much since most of them have jobs, and as a result, you can score better grades than them. Indeed, as a law student, I tried to take as many evening classes as possible because the courses were graded on a curve, and I knew that evening students were more likely to have jobs and less time to study.
If you do well in a part-time program, you can transfer law schools and eventually matriculate into a full-time program. For instance, I have a friend who discovered how attending part-time programs full-time can be beneficial as a student. This friend received a near-perfect GPA after his first year as a law student, partially because he studied full-time whereas many of his classmates had jobs, family responsibilities, and other drains on their time. Eventually, this friend transferred to a top law school, where he was able to enroll in a full-time program and graduate on time.
Better law schools are more likely to offer merit scholarships and need-based financial aid that can make transferring law schools financially beneficial. Indeed, after transferring law schools, I was awarded a very generous need-based financial aid package that made attending the better law school more affordable than attending my first school. Moreover, law schools are more likely to have programs that help public-interest graduates with their student loans. Since attending-part-time programs full-time can allow you to transfer law schools and receive numerous financial benefits, this strategy can impact your student debt burden.
Moreover, attending part-time programs full-time can lead to better employment outcomes, which can also impact you student loan outcomes. Studying full-time in a part-time program can lead for a student to score better grades, since they are competing against classmates who may have more distractions in their lives. Grades are very important to securing better employment opportunities because employers want workers who show the intelligence and dedication to do well in school. When I was in law school, the fact that I had better grades than many of my classmates made it easier for me to get interviews for high-paying jobs. This in turn ensured that I had a higher salary and was able to more easily devote money to my student debt.
Moreover, transferring law schools after succeeding academically while attending part-time programs full-time can also impact your employment prospects. Some employers like to hire people who attended top-ranked schools, since these institutions are more prestigious and presumably produce a better caliber of workers. Moreover, if you transfer schools after getting good grades from attending a part-time program as a full-time student, you will have a number of advantages in the job search. Indeed, you will have access to all of the connections of the better school while able to boast the high grades that you scored at your first school. As a result, you might have more employment choices and higher-paying opportunities if you can study full-time in a part-time program, and this is another reason why such a strategy can impact your student debt burden.
Attending part-time programs full-time can also make it easier to earn academic and extra-curricular accolades that can be important in the job market. For instance, many legal employers like to see that future attorneys had experience working on a legal journal in law school. Moreover, many legal employers also like to see that a student participated in moot court or other clubs that helped sharpen the student’s skills while they earned their legal degree.
It is far easier to have time for such pursuits when you are attending part-time programs full-time because you do not have distractions that might prevent you from being involved in these activities. Such activities look great on a resume, and could lead to more lucrative job opportunities. A higher salary can increase the amount of money you have to pay off student loans and can lower your student debt burden.
Of course, it is difficult to attend any school with the intention of transferring because it is often very hard to predict how well you will perform in an academic program. Moreover, you cannot tell if you will succeed academically while attending a part-time program full-time. However, attending part-time programs full-time can enable you to perform better academically, and this could open transfer options to you and make you more desirable as a job candidate, which can have a substantial impact on your student debt burden.