[quote=squat250]one way law school could make sense:
you just get an A.A. degree (you do NOT need a 4 year degree to sit for the bar in CA; check the rules); and then go to a super cheap small law school. say 8k a year. pay as you go and pass the bar.
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scaredy, aren’t you a lawyer? IMR you graduated a while ago, but I imagine you know this: there is no such thing as an $8k a year law school that wouldn’t be laughed at by potential employer. Even Thomas Jefferson and Cal Western are insanely expensive – like $42k per year – and those barely make the cut as “real” schools (and what I mean by “real” is that you have at least a 50% chance of passing the bar and getting a job as a lawyer after graduation). I went to the highest ranked school in So. Cal., though, so I might be biased. And, even graduating at what I speculate was the bottom 40% of my class, I have a good-paying job. I graduated in 2006, which wasn’t the worst year ever, but did see a number of my friends get laid off during the down years in biglaw.
As far as seeing JC transcript, law schools absolutely do see them and grades you earned while at a JC. Not entirely sure if that makes a difference, but I do recall that about 5% of people from my graduating class came from CSU/SUNY schools. Roughly 80% came from Ivys/top tier UC schools (Cal, UCLA, or UCSD). Your undergrad matters.
I personally plan on pushing my kids to go to a 4 year school (preferably a UC, if it is still cheaper than private schools in 15+ years) because I think it makes a difference in how seriously they take school. I am also saving already so they don’t start buried in debt, although I do think they should have some skin in the game. Everyone in my husband’s family thinks we are crazy for saving and that kids should go to a JC first. But of the 7 kids/stepkids from his generation, all went to a JC for some period of time, none except my husband have degrees from a 4 year university, and only one makes over $50k a year, which is enough to make me ignore their admonitions that we will be wasting our money.
