Congratulations! You’re almost done with your first semester of law school. Like many students, you may have borrowed student loans to cover your tuition and living expenses. I know you have a lot on your mind these days; your LRW brief, outlines, EXAMS! , but if you haven’t thought it about yet, now is a great time to create a financial plan to budget the money you have borrowed.
Maintaining a budget and monitoring how much you borrow/spend during your time in law school can be a daunting task. Budgets can be difficult to stick to and hectic schedules can cause you to easily lose track of how much you spend on a day to day basis. While the Law School Financial Aid Office is here to help you with questions and needs related to financing your law school enrollment, we also want to make sure that you are getting the assistance and support you need on matters and concerns related to your personal finances.
Temple Law School has partnered with AccessLex Institute, a non-profit organization with over 30 years of experience in advising students. AccessLex provides on-campus information sessions for incoming 1Ls, personal finance sessions for returning students, and loan repayment sessions for graduating students. Recently, AccessLex has created a personal finance program called MAX Online designed exclusively for first year law students. You may recall a session during Orientation week which went over the program and explained the benefits of signing up and completing the online modules. The program is completely free and all you have to do is create an account at www.accesslex.org/maxonline to get started.
Once your account has been created, you’ll gain access to monthly lessons to help you gain knowledge, build strategies, and meet your financial goals. In addition to your lessons, MAX also provides access to workshops, webinars, podcasts, and other financial education resources. You also have access to one-on-one time with fully Accredited Financial Counselors (AFC©) by phone, live chat, or email. Again, this service is available free to charge to students at Temple Law School since we are a MAX school.
To keep you motivated as you juggle the many demands of law school, MAX also offers scholarship incentives to encourage your progress and help you stay on track. Each time you complete your monthly activities, you’ll earn another entry into AccessLex’s scholarship drawings. There’s a chance to win up to $40,000 toward your 2018-19 tuition.
I know that it is easy to not even think about having to repay your student loans, or any other financial issues, until after you graduate. But the best thing to do is to start now to put yourself on the right path. You are working hard to achieve your professional goals and making sure you are on track to achieve your financial goals is just as important. It is important for you to understand the realities of your student loans and finances now. By signing up for the MAX Online program, you are positioning yourself on the right path to managing your finances and setting yourself up for future financial success.
Larry Bridges is the Law School’s Financial Aid Counselor and is a member of the University’s Financial Literacy Team. He is always available to speak with students about financial aid, and student loan repayment. You can reach him at larry.bridges@temple.edu or stop by the Financial Aid Office in Barrack Hall, Suite 101.
