Law School?

[Prudence]

It's worth it if it's what you want to do and you're willing to be flexible, consider alternate career pathways, and aren't afraid to be more persistent than you could possibly imagine would be necessary.

Refugee law (or possibly immigration law?) is not something that's going to be lucrative in the way the general public thinks a law career inevitably is. On the other hand, if you're going to law school on an assumption that you're going to work at Big Law and quickly pay off your debt with six-figure starting salaries - that is when you should NOT NOT NOT go to law school.

Careers still can be had. I ended up mostly where I wanted, but it took a Herculean effort. And I have to start doing it all over again in six months, because this is only a 2-year gig. But I should have a decent shot at continued federal employment and, while it's not Big Law, one can certainly make one's student loan payments on the federal salary.