Pitt Law announces Loan Repayment Assistance Program
May 6, 2008
Every year, a number of University of Pittsburgh School of Law graduates dream of a career serving those who receive inadequate or no legal assistance, by pursuing advocacy work in the public’s interest or serving the people through public sector employment. But these new lawyers face a substantial challenge. It is especially difficult for new law graduates with substantial student loan debt to take lower-paying jobs that would enable them to pursue their dream. The Law School recognizes that the legal community has a responsibility to serve others and seeks to support its students in pursuing a broad range of career choices. This pilot program has been adopted in the hope that it may begin to remove obstacles to graduates interested in choosing a career of service and will serve as the foundation of a sustainable, permanent program of loan repayment assistance. According to a 2002 joint report by Equal Justice Works, the National Association for Law Placement and Partnership for Public Service, "survey results suggest that some of the best solutions to the educational debt crisis are loan repayment assistance programs and other similar programs." Under the Pitt Law Loan Repayment Assistance Program (LRAP), participating graduates receive an annual sum of money, in the form of a forgivable loan, to pay a percentage of their monthly student loan payment.