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College Connect: Considering Law School? You May Have to Give Up the Part-time Job

By Reann Huber

Many students consider the possibility of attending graduate school immediately after finishing their undergraduate degree, but the daunting price tag that comes along with pursuing a higher degree brings financial concerns to students they may not have faced in the past.

University of Georgia senior Abby Fitts, a philosophy major from Columbus, Georgia, is one of those students who considered higher education and decided to pursue a law degree at Georgia State University after she graduates in May 2017.

Fitts is like many students who had to take out some loans, but was able to cover many of her college expenses through the Zell B. Miller scholarship, which covered all of her tuition. She also was getting help from her parents when needed. However, Fitts will have to adjust to the rigors of law school and the possibility of not working a part-time job to have some extra money during her time there.

“I have had a part time job every year since I was 15,” says Fitts. “However, many law schools recommend not having a job at all the first year and strongly consider focusing just on your studies, so that will definitely be an adjustment.”

During her time at UGA, Fitts has worked in different part-time jobs, including at the Ramsey Student Center, the UGA Law School’s Dean Rusk Center, as well as the law school’s budget office.

Fitts understands money will be tight when she starts law school with the lack of extra funds that came along with working these jobs, and she knows a scholarship received for law school will help her, even if it does not cover everything.

“The scholarship I received will help out a lot, and I’m lucky to have only taken out a small loan for undergrad thanks to the help from my parents,” says Fitts. “But I know I will definitely be going into some debt attending law school.

Reann Huber is a journalism major at the University of Georgia’s Grady College of Journalism and Mass Communication.

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