Federal Program to Help Law Grads Pursue Public Interest Careers

A new federal program that will help public interest lawyers structure their repayment and eventually win loan forgiveness went into effect on July 1st.

A June 22nd National Law Journal article has the details:

The program will benefit law students in two key ways. Most
prominent is loan forgiveness for public interest workers. After a
borrower makes payments for 10 years on government-backed student
loans, the government will forgive the remaining loan balance for those
who qualify. The program guarantees loan forgiveness not only to
lawyers who serve the public interest but also to a wide array of
public service workers including teachers, law enforcement officers and
certain health care professionals.

The loan forgiveness provision is intended to make it more
affordable for college graduates to pursue public interest careers,
which often come with lower salaries than in the private sector. Even
with the recession, first-year associates at many major law firms are
paid as much as $160,000; public interest attorneys can expect starting
salaries of about $41,000, according to a survey last year by the
National Association for Law Placement.

INCOME-BASED REPAYMENT

The second aspect of the new federal program that will benefit law
graduates is the income-based repayment option, in which monthly loan
payments are capped according to the borrower's annual income. Public
interest attorneys must choose this repayment option to qualify for
loan forgiveness, but graduates who don't go into public interest also
may choose to participate. Under income-based repayment, monthly
student loan payments are capped at 15% of the borrower's discretionary
income. After the borrower makes qualifying payments for 25 years, the
federal government will forgive any remaining loan debt.

 Read the full National Law Journal article by clicking here.