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A 2024 survey conducted by the American Bar Association Young Lawyers Division provides new insights about young lawyers’ experiences with the COVID-19 student loan repayment pause, their plans in the event of loan forgiveness, their satisfaction with loan servicers, and their mindsets regarding work-life balance.
The survey results also illustrate notable differences in borrowing and debt effects by respondent characteristics, including first-generation college status. Among those findings:
- Just over a quarter (27%) of respondents have a current student loan balance that is higher now than when they graduated. Of those, 71% indicate their balance has grown because they are in an income-driven repayment plan and their monthly payments do not cover the principal.
- While 70% of respondents who borrowed say they were aware of their student balance each year they were enrolled in law school, only 42% report having an awareness of the impact of compound interest and other fees associated with deferring loan payments. Awareness was even lower for first-generation and racially underrepresented respondents at 33% each compared to 45% of continuing generation respondents and 44% of racially represented respondents.
- At the time they enrolled in law school, many young lawyers did not anticipate how student loans would affect them after graduation. Of those who borrowed, only 25% agreed they clearly understood how their student loans would impact their careers, and only 28% clearly understood how their student loans would impact their personal lives.