I have motions coming out of my eyeballs. Not literally. But it feels like it. I'm on page 42 of motion writing for this week. More reply briefs will be due next week. It's not just boiler plate stuff either. Most of my motion brief are for dispositive motions. I wouldn't be surprised if, after this weekend, my eyeballs will have lost the ability to focus on anything that is not back lit. "Oh, you say you are my son? Sorry, my eyeballs do not recognize you because you are not on a computer screen!"
Now that I work for the government, I have been looking into special tuition repayment programs. If I work for the government for ten years, the remainder of my student loan debt will be forgiven! This is pretty awesome considering that I will otherwise not be able to pay off my debt in less than 15-20 years. To qualify for the program, I have to be on a qualifying repayment program. One is based upon income. If I chose income-based repayment, this will reduce my monthly student loan payment by $700! This is incredible! And yes, I currently pay north of $700 per month now.
Although, I am nearly jumping for joy at the thought of having extra money (we currently pay about $700/month for childcare now as well so... it would be like having free childcare- amazing!), I am a little nervous. If I am not able to stay in a government/nonprofit job for 10 years, I will have so much principle left to pay off. Under the income based plan, I would pretty much just be paying a portion of my interest only. Do I roll the dice and take this chance? I hate rolling dice.
My boss has told me repeatedly that they are trying to keep me in a long term position. This gives me hope. But just recently another attorney asked if he could reassign one of clients (a government agency) to me because he was overwhelmed with work. My boss basically told him she couldn't do that because I could be gone tomorrow. This takes away my hope. I hate uncertainty almost as much as I hate rolling the dice.
In other news, today was the Seattle Superbowl Parade. My husband took Jacob while I, unfortunately, had to work. It was pure madness as nearly one million people filled the streets to watch the Seahawks parade by with the Lombardi trophy. Ferries were backed up for hours and my husband had to park over a mile away just to walk to the ferry. Despite this, I was so sad I could not be there. (Apparently Lynch was throwing Skittles! And my husband got pretty close to Russell Wilson.) At least Jacob will have those memories.....
I was really nervous that Jacob would get lost so I wrote my husband's cell phone number on his arm just in case they got separated. In light of the fact that the temps were supposed to hover int he mid-twenties and they would be outside for hours, I also packed a fleece blanket in Jacob's backpack. I don't like how paranoid parenthood has made me.
Sh*t: I wipe it, put up with it, and get it done. These are the adventures of a mommy lawyer.
It would be awesome if you could qualify for one of those programs.
ReplyDeleteAs someone who really liked the tax classes in law school, I have to ask--do they make you pay taxes on the amount of loan principle that's written off at the end of the 10 year period? I seem to remember from FIT that forgiven loan principle is treated similar to ordinary income, but maybe loans forgiven under this program would be subject to different treatment? (Still, it's gotta be better to pay taxes on the forgiven principle than spend another five to ten years making payments.)
I just refinanced my loans and got the payment down to the $600s (sad to say, my initial monthly payment was $2,098!!! and my payment just before the refi was ~$1,100) and went from an average interest rate in the high 6% to a rate in the high 2%. It's such a relief to get a more reasonable interest rate :)
I have got my fingers crossed that they are able to extend your contract. Seems like you are really thriving in this job :)
I would have written the phone number on his arm and packed a fleece blanket, too! One of my brothers had a tendency to be a really smart escape artist and neighborhood explorer before he could talk (he regularly walked to my elementary school to come visit me while my mother was doing laundry in the basement). Every morning when she got him dressed, she pinned a note to the back of his shirt with his name, address, and telephone number!
ReplyDeleteKate @ BJJ, Law, and Living