King Hall Loan Repayment Assistance Program Set to Expand
The King Hall Loan Repayment Assistance Program (LRAP), a groundbreaking UC Davis School of Law program that offers financial assistance to graduates working in public interest law, is being expanded. The program, the first of its kind established by any California public law school, will amend participation requirements to offer more loan repayment assistance to more King Hall graduates.
Founded in 1990, the program is a critical part of the Law School's effort to support alumni who want to work in public interest law but find it difficult to repay student loans while receiving the relatively low salaries typically offered by public interest organizations. LRAP effectively removes that barrier by providing qualified graduates with interest-free loans, which can be forgiven after a period of employment with a qualifying nonprofit or government agency. In addition to law school debt, loans received for undergraduate and other graduate-level study are eligible for repayment assistance.
King Hall graduates from the Class of 1990 and beyond are eligible for the program. To date, LRAP has provided more than $700,000 in assistance to 70 participants.
Now, LRAP is being expanded. Hollis Kulwin, King Hall's senior assistant dean for student affairs, announced this spring that LRAP will raise the salary cap for participants from $53,000 to $60,000, lessen the time period they must work before loans can be forgiven from five years to one, and allow participants who earn less than $40,000 annually to have full repayment assistance with no personal contributions.
"These enhancements will allow more students to participate in LRAP, provide critically needed support to graduates working in the lowest-paid public interest jobs, and allow participants to remain in the program longer and have more of their loans forgiven more quickly," said Kulwin. "We hope the enhanced LRAP will encourage students to pursue their dreams of a public interest career."
Participants in UC Davis' LRAP include lawyers who work or have worked at California Rural Legal Assistance, Legal Services of California, Office of Clients' Rights Advocacy, the Fair Housing Law Project, the Florence Immigrant and Refugee Rights Project, the Sierra Club, and other public service organizations.
King Hall Loan Repayment Assistance Program