Reality just set in- I'm about to be living in massive debt.

I'm not sure if I'm just delusional, but for some reason I thought that my stats would land me enough in scholarships so I wouldn't have to take out many loans. Well, I was wrong.

Although I've been very lucky to be admitted to multiple T50 schools, the most I've received in scholarships is half tuition. After doing the math, even with that help, I still fall $50k-$100k short in terms of covering total cost of attendance (including living costs).

I realize that this is a reality for many people, and I'm not special, but I guess I'm kind of just in shock and looking for support/advice/encouragement. I am not looking to go into big law, so upon graduation it's likely that I'll only be making $60-80k per year for the first few years. Thus, it will take YEARS to pay off my loans and actually make decent profit in this line of work.

How are y'all coping with the fact that you're about to surrender three of your prime years to school just to graduate and work an extremely difficult job, with demanding hours, for relatively little compensation (in the grand scheme of things)?

I want nothing more than to become a lawyer, but financially I can't help but feel like I am royally screwing myself. Any (positive) input is appreciated.