Without Access To Loans, Homeless Student Lived In A Car While Finishing Law School

This student was only able to survive law school thanks ingenuity and the help of faculty.

Welcome to the latest installment of The Struggle, a series where we examine the mental-health and social issues that students and recent graduates encounter during the oftentimes grueling law school experience. We are posting these stories because sometimes what law students and recent graduates need is to know that they’re not alone in their pain. Sometimes what law students and recent graduates need is to know that they’ve got a friend who is willing to share not just in their triumphs, but also in their struggles. These are real messages from real readers.

If these issues resonate with you, please reach out to us. Your stories need to be heard. You can email us, text us at (646) 820-8477, or tweet us @atlblog. We will share your stories anonymously. You may be able to help a law student or recent law school graduate who needs to know that someone else has been there before and survived.


I recently graduated from law school, and I have no idea how I did it. When my spouse and I planned out my three years of law school, we were planning on receiving student loans, but shortly before I was set to begin we found out I had been denied. The city we were in had an extremely high cost of living, and our savings quickly ran out.

To make matters worse, the city we were in had a very high Spanish speaking population, and we found ourselves constantly being turned down from jobs because we didn’t speak Spanish. I worked as an LSAT tutor to get by, but the stress of law school, having next to no money, and struggling with some mental health issues, I began to break down. One semester I had to withdraw from classes while I got help, and another semester I had to cut my class load in half to get through it.

Our financial situation got so desperate that my spouse moved back home with my in-laws and I stayed and lived out of my car, eating in the cafeteria and showering in the gym locker rooms on campus. Fellow classmates started to make comments that I was always on campus, not understanding that was literally true. The school faculty was an incredible help; they were understanding and supportive and did all they could, short of just bankrolling me, of course, and somehow I was able to graduate just one semester behind schedule.

Obviously my transcript and resume and are not impressive, and I have no idea how I’m going to get a job, but right now I’m just focusing on passing the bar. And again, without any savings or access to loans, I can’t afford professional bar classes, so I’m going it alone. By some miracle I’ve found a job at a law firm doing legal research, and now that I’m not a student anymore I can qualify for food stamps, which has really helped.

What keeps me going is the hope that a better life is just around the corner, and it will have been worth it.


Most law schools have counseling and psychological services resources that students and graduates can turn to if they are in crisis or would like counseling, even after hours. If these services are not available at your school, and if you or someone you know is depressed and in need help, please call the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline (1-800-273-8255) or a lawyer assistance program in your state (don’t be fooled by the name; these programs also provide services to law students). Remember that you are loved, so please reach out if you need assistance, before it’s too late.


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Staci ZaretskyStaci Zaretsky is a senior editor at Above the Law, where she’s worked since 2011. She’d love to hear from you, so please feel free to email her with any tips, questions, comments, or critiques. You can follow her on Twitter or connect with her on LinkedIn.

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