This Washington Post story is about how Seattle University's law school is trying to convince its students not to plunk down $3 US of borrowed money on a moccafrappochino.

An excerpt:

At a Starbucks across the street from Seattle University School of Law, Kirsten Daniels crams for the bar exam. She's armed with color-coded pens, a don't-mess-with-me crease in her brow and what she calls "my comfort latte."

She just graduated summa cum laude , after three years of legal training that left her $115,000 in debt. Part of that debt, which she will take a decade to repay with interest, was run up at Starbucks, where she buys her lattes.

Part of the $115,000 debt Kirsten Daniels of Seattle incurred to finance law school went toward her regular caffeine fix. (By Blaine Harden -- The Washington Post)

The habit costs her nearly $3 a day, and it's one that her law school says she and legions like her cannot afford.

It borders on apostasy in this caffeine-driven town (home to more coffee shops per capita than any major U.S. city, as well as Starbucks corporate headquarters), but the law school is aggressively challenging the drinking habits of students such as Daniels.

"A latte a day on borrowed money? It's crazy," said Erika Lim, director of career services at the law school.

To quantify the craziness, Lim distributes coffee-consumption charts. One shows that a five-day-a-week $3 latte habit on borrowed money can cost $4,154, when repaid over 10 years. She also directs students to a Web site she helped create. The "Stop Buying Expensive Coffee and Save Calculator" ( http://www.hughchou.org/calc/coffee.cgi ) shows that if you made your own coffee and for 30 years refrained from buying a $3 latte, you could save $55,341 (with interest).

When I worked in downtown Toronto, there was a Second Cup on the corner of the block where my office building was located.

I tried to limit myself to one latte on paydays (just a regular size too).

One day, a guy ahead of me in line ordered a giant latte. The "barista" asked him, "how many of these do you have a day?" His off-handed response? "Three."

So he's dropping just under $12 per day on coffee. That would be close to $3,000 per year of post-tax income if that was indeed a daily thing. I hope he was very well paid.

Actually, the worst gouge wasn't at Second Cup or Starbucks, but at a place called The Bloor Street Diner.

I went down for a hot chocolate one day, and watched as they ripped open a package of off-the-shelf hot chocolate mix and poured hot water into it -- for about $2.50 and change.

I have my pride: I made them make it with hot milk at least, otherwise I wasn't going to take it. But that was the only hot chocolate I ever had there.