A decade after graduating near the top of her class at Lewis & Clark Law School and starting a career as a public defender in Hillsboro, Amanda Alvarez Thibeault is overcome with financial worry.
She hasn’t been able to pay down any of the principal from her law school loans, which have swelled with interest to $240,000. She and her husband haven’t put any money into a college savings account for their elementary-school-aged daughter. And Thibeault says her retirement account is so insignificant that it would only cover a few months of living expenses in her golden years.
