Boalt's Loan Repayment Assistance Program: FAQ

Boalt’s Loan Repayment Program is designed (1) to make it financially feasible for Boalt grads to pursue careers in public interest and public service and (2) to encourage students interested in public interest to attend Boalt. Boalt’s program is one of the best in the country, though it has some shortfalls from the perspective of students with high debt. The following information is mostly gleaned from the LRAP Guidelines available on the Financial Aid Office’s website and attached below. The rest is based on my knowledge about the LRAP and my own editorializing. Opinions are mine, not the FAO’s. Boalt's LRAP policy can be found at the FAO website, here. Two other Boalt students and I are on the Financial Aid Committee, which makes recommendations to the Dean with respect to Boalt's financial aid policies. If you would like to speak to us, you can get our email addresses from your BHSA reps!

Who qualifies for LRAP?
Graduates entering public interest and public sector jobs qualify for some help from LRAP provided they make between zero and about $90,000 a year. Graduates in “qualifying employment” earning less than $58,000 a year may have 100% of their loan payments covered. Graduates enter a 10-year repayment plan and Boalt makes the payments during the years that the graduate is in qualifying employment. Alums must re-certify that they are in public interest employment every six months. Between an annual salary of $58,000 and about $90,000, the student is expected to pay 35% of income above $58,000 in loan payments. Above is a delightful chart summarizing LRAP.

What is qualifying employment? Qualifying employment is defined by Boalt as “greater than half-time work for a nonprofit organization including all 501(c)(3) organizations or an agency of government in law-related employment.” Though the policy includes language about government and 501(c)(3)s, recipients of LRAP from years past include graduates entering other non-profit work, such as policy-work with a legal component, community organizing, or, in one case, working as an advocate on behalf of union members. The definition of “law-related employment” is slippery. If you are unsure about whether your prospective employment will qualify for LRAP, talk to the Financial Aid Office early. The FAO makes an initial determination of what constitutes qualifying employment. Its decisions may be appealed to the Dean of Students and to the Dean. Most of our peer schools’ LRAPs cover similar “law-related” employment, but some use a purely income-based system, without reference to the type of work a graduate is doing.

What if I want to clerk? LRAP now covers clerkships! The Class of 2009 will be the first to have clerkships covered under LRAP. Clerkships, however, are covered with a caveat – if the graduate does not enter public interest or public sector employment, she has to pay back Boalt in full for the amount Boalt paid during the clerkship, plus 8% interest. Thus, the funding for clerkships is still designed for students who plan to enter careers in service.

How much debt will LRAP really cover? LRAP covers up to $100,000 total. This may include up to $10,000 of a bar study loan. The average debt of a Boalt grad entering the LRAP is a little higher than $100,000, so the current “cap” of $100,000 leaves many students with some residual debt, in addition to undergraduate debt. This debt can be substantial, especially if a Boalt graduate received no help from her parents and had a family income that made her ineligible for Boalt’s need-based grants.

What if I have a family? If an LRAP participant gets married, a spouse’s income must be reported to Boalt. If the spouse’s income is higher than the LRAP participant’s, then the amount of LRAP coverage will be based on the average of the two salaries. If the spouse’s income is lower than the LRAP participant’s, then only the LRAP participant’s income counts. There is an income deduction for children: $6,000 for the first child, $4,000 for each subsequent child. If an LRAP participant leaves the program to have a family, he may defer his loans until he begins to work again, at which point he can re-enter the LRAP.

How does Boalt’s LRAP interact with the new federal loan forgiveness program? Like pretty much every other school, Boalt is working to determine how our program will interact with College Cost Reduction and Access Act. The Act can be read here. In a nutshell, the Act provides federal funding to forgive the loans of graduates entering public interest and public service after 10 years of service and to make loan payments during those 10 years substantially smaller than they would normally be. A more detailed post on the federal program will follow soon.

More questions?
If you would like an authoritative answer to these or other questions, you should contact the FAO. If you have other questions about LRAP, feel free to post them in the comments and I’ll try to answer them!