There are four main sources of education loans: the federal government, state governments, the law school you attend and private lenders. It’s possible to accumulate a mortgage-sized debt by the time you graduate. For many new lawyers, this prevents the possibility of a lower-paying public interest career.

Loan repayment assistance programs (LRAPs) refer to programs that provide financial assistance to help with the repayment of educational debts of law school graduates who meet program eligibility criteria. Whether they are referred to as debt management programs, loan forgiveness programs or low-income protection plans, LRAPs share a common mission: offering grants or forgivable loans to law school graduates to help them repay a portion of their annual educational debt. In most cases, to be eligible for program benefits, a graduate must be employed with a nonprofit organization or in a local, state or federal government setting and must work in a law-related position.

Most LRAP programs are designed with a goal of enabling law graduates to enter a low-paying, public sector job even though they have high educational debt. In general, a graduate of a law school with an LRAP, employed in the public sector, can apply for and receive funds from the program to help with his or her student loan repayment, allowing the graduate to lessen his or her overall student loan payments. For some LRAP participants, the benefits received through the LRAP make a career in public interest law feasible.

The mere existence of an LRAP is not a panacea. Many LRAPs are not adequately funded, or they contain such stringent eligibility requirements that even the most deserving public interest attorneys are ineligible.

In evaluating an LRAP, you need to ask a series of questions:

• Is the program well funded?
• Is your desired career field covered?
• What is the average level of financial assistance provided by the LRAP?
• Do all who qualify actually receive assistance? Is that assistance prorated based on the number of participants?
• Which loans are covered?
• Is aid provided as grants or as loans?
• If the aid is provided in the form of loans, how long must you remain in such employment before loans are canceled or forgiven?
• If an income ceiling is established for eligibility, does it reflect prevailing salaries in your potential career field and geographic area?
• Does the income ceiling take into account the annual salary increases that can be anticipated over the course of your participation in the LRAP?
• Does the income ceiling depend on your spouse's income as well?

The answer to the question as to whether the assistance is given in the form of a grant or a forgivable loan is critical for two reasons: 1) grants are taxable, while forgivable loans are not; 2) some forgivable loans are spread out over a period of years, meaning that participants who leave qualifying employment after a few years may be required to repay all or a portion of the LRAP loan.

You can find many of the answers to the questions listed above in The E-Guide. It is equally important that you consider the relative need for an LRAP in light of other factors. For example, a lower-tuition school with an average graduate debt load below $50,000 may compare much more favorably to a higher-cost school with much higher average debt load upon graduation even if the lower-tuition school has no LRAP.

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