Jump to other pages in the Students section
Seattle University School of Law Loan Repayment Assistance Program (LRAP) applications for the 2007-08 LRAP year are available. The 2007-08 LRAP application deadline is April 1, 2008.
Consistent with the Seattle University School of Law mission of preparing students who are committed to contributing to the common good by shaping an equitable legal system, Seattle University School of Law established a Loan Repayment Assistance Program (LRAP). The LRAP is premised upon assisting graduates who choose full time public interest legal careers and are licensed attorneys. The program mandates that employment be (a) law related and (b) public interest in spirit and content. The position must substantially utilize the legal training and skills of the graduate. The graduate must work for a non-profit entity that is dedicated to social justice, access, and non-discrimination and that has as one of its primary purposes the goal of providing legal services to or on behalf of persons or organizations that either could not otherwise afford such services or who are underrepresented in the legal system.
Seattle University School of Law will lend eligible applicants an estimated $3,000 each in LRAP funds to help meet the repayment of specified law school loans. If the graduate remains in qualifying public interest employment for at least one year after receipt of the loan, the loan made by the Law School will be forgiven.
The qualifying income limit is a maximum of $50,000 annually. In the case of married graduates, the income figure used for calculations will be either the graduate's income or one-half of the joint income, whichever is higher. In the event that both parties are eligible for LRAP, income and debt will be treated separately, or as one-half of the total income and debt for each spouse.
Please review the LRAP Policies and Guidelines. Once you have had a chance to read the details of the program, if you are interested in applying for the LRAP, please see the Application Instructions.
The Washington State Bar Foundation (WSBA) offers a Loan Repayment Assistance Program (LRAP). In its first year, the WSBF accepted five LRAP participants funded at $5,000 each per year for five years. The hope is to add five additional participants each year after that. The WSBF LRAP deadline is November 1.
The program is structured to provide financial assistance to program participants, to be used to repay educational debt. Assistance will be in the form of forgivable loans. Forgiveness of LRAP loans begins after three years in qualifying employment. Loans are not forgiven in full until completion of five years of qualifying employment. Recipients who do not complete the full five years of required public service must pay back their LRAP loans consistent with the program guidelines.
Program participants must be active WSBA members employed at least 32 hours per week in qualifying public-service employment. Qualifying public-service employment includes:
Please check the WSBA Web site for more information and to download the necessary forms to apply.
In October the College Cost Reduction and Access Act of 2007 (HR 2669) was signed into law.
This is good news for those in nonprofit or government careers, including public interest law services. It puts an annual limit on loan payments for borrowers with high educational debt compared to income level and helps borrowers who are employed in public service make affordable monthly payments over a period of 10 years. After 10 years of payments, the federal government will forgive the eligible federal educational debt that remains.
Below is a summary of two of the major sections that may affect you. For the full text, please see http://kennedy.senate.gov/imo/media/doc/HR2669_conf_report.pdf.
Please note that this summary is preliminary and is based on the text as signed. There will likely be updates and amendments clarifying the law.
Section 203 allows borrowers of Stafford, Perkins, Grad PLUS and Federal Consolidation (less any undergrad PLUS) loans to repay their loans on the basis of the income at the time of repayment (income-based repayment).
Section 401 deals with Federal Loan Forgiveness for Public Service Employees. This section of the law takes effect July 1, 2009, but does count eligible payments made after October 1, 2007.
Generally, the provisions in this section become effective July 1, 2009.
Loan payments will be limited to 15 percent of a borrower's discretionary income or 15 percent of the amount that a borrower's (and spouse's if applicable) adjusted gross income exceeds 150 percent of the poverty line, divided by 12. Unpaid interest and principal are capitalized and any outstanding loan balance is forgiven after 20 years of repayment. For the 2007 Federal Poverty Guidelines see http://aspe.hhs.gov/poverty/07poverty.shtml. A spouse’s income will not be considered if a married couple files separate tax returns.
PLUS Loans made on behalf of a dependent student and Direct Consolidation Loans that contain PLUS loans are not eligible for the income-based repayment program.
Holders of these loans must apply the borrower's payments first to interest, second to fees, and then toward the principal of the loan.
Any interest due and not covered by the borrower shall be paid by the Secretary for up to three years except for periods that a borrower is in deferment due to economic hardship.
The lender shall also capitalize the interest due when the borrower stops participating in the income-based repayment program, or begins making payments larger than what is specified under income-based repayment.
Principal due and not paid under income-base repayment shall be deferred.
Borrowers may remain in income-based repayment more than 10 years.
When borrowers leave the program the maximum payment required on the loan shall not exceed the monthly amount based on a 10-year repayment period when the borrower first joined income-based repayment. The time the borrower is permitted to repay the loan may exceed 10 years.
The Department must repay or cancel any outstanding loan principal and interest for borrowers after 25 years of repayment.
Borrowers currently repaying loans according to income-contingent repayment or income-sensitive repayment plans will have the choice to continue in their current plans or may participate in the program created by this bill.
The Department must establish procedures to annually determine borrowers' eligibility for the program, including verification of a borrower's income and the amount of their loans.
This legislation allows the Secretary of Education to cancel the balance of any interest and principal due on any Federal Direct Loan - including Direct Stafford, Direct PLUS, or Direct Consolidation Loan - that is not in default for borrowers who:
A public service job is defined as a full-time job in emergency management, government, military service, public safety, law enforcement, public health, public education, social work, public interest law services, child care, public library sciences, or any other job at an organization that is described in section 501(C)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986.
Please note this is valid only with Federal Direct Loans, such as offered at Seattle University School of Law. However, if you have FFELP Stafford loans or FFELP consolidated federal loans (through a lender other than Direct Loans), you may reconsolidate into a Direct Loan (www.loanconsolidation.ed.gov) after July 1, 2008. Payments after that point would start to count towards the 120 payments, if qualified.
You may be interested in reading the following pertinent article: Federal Student Loan Repayment Assistance for Public Interest Lawyers and Other Employees of Governments and Nonprofit Organizations, 36 Hofstra L. Rev. __, (forthcoming, Fall, 2007). Philip G. Schrag. www.law.georgetown.edu/news/releases/documents/Forgiveness_000.pdf.
If you have questions regarding the Seattle University School of Law LRAP, please e-mail the LRAP Committee at lawfa@seattleu.edu or call Student Financial Services at (206) 398-4250.