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As the resident CLS public interest troll, I wanted to let people know (just in case they're still on the fence) about the new LRAP options that Columbia is offering to students graduating this year.

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HOWEVER, I recently found out that, though they are making it available to graduates, they are not yea marketing it to prospective students. They will develop web and marketing materials for that over the summer. I take that to mean that it might still be tweaked slightly or that they want to market it in a specific way. Regardless, I don't feel comfortable putting up all the details in the meantime.

With that said, CLS is interested in combining with the federal program while also allowing students to take advantage of the traditional LRAP for those who are uncomfortable about using IBR. Taking advantage of IBR will result in much lower payments for students, but there are also significant risks of managing your debt in this way. Sorry for any confusion I have caused.

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Oh yeah? How's it compare to Yale?

Chris0805,

That was an excellent explanation. Thank you! If what you write is entirely accurate, then that's a sweet deal for CLS grads who are committed to a career in PI.

Where did you find out your information from? I'm sure you are correct, having the inside scope and all, I just can't find anything on the Columbia website about how it merges with IBR. All I can find is this page: http://www.law.columbia.edu/current_stu ... l_aid/LRAP If you could send me a link I would really appreciate it! What you have described is significantly more generous than the standard LRAP they have described.

We don't have a link up yet, but they had a meeting for 3Ls about the new LRAP earlier this week. This is all new, and I'll check if there's a link somewhere, but as far as I know, it's not on the webpage yet. I didn't think of that when I posted it, but I understand that you'd have to be insane to just take my word for it.

weird. a girl asked that exact question during the LRAP session at Columbia ("Does Columbia have any plans to make its LRAP work with the federal program?"). And the guy definitely said no, no plans at all... he sounded like it was kind of a out-of-nowhere question. cool, though. hopefully other schools will follow suit over the next few years.

Bump for the edit.

In terms of the ASW question, it might have had to do with (a) who she was asking and/or (b) how she framed the question. If someone asked "Does CLS have any plans to change its LRAP to combine..." or "Does CLS have any plans to replace its LRAP with a combined model..." the answer would still be no, since the old one is staying under the new plans; there are just other options as well.

Thanks for the clarification. I'm sure they'll be updating things for the next cycle. It seems like combining with IBR and LRAPs is becoming a popular policy with law schools. UVA just joined GULC, Northwestern and Berkeley in combining the two. It seems like an easy decision given how much money it saves schools. While the 10 year business is a pain for graduates, from the schools' perspective it might actually be a plus since they probably want graduates to stick with public interest for the long term, not just a couple of years.

Thanks again, if you find anything else out give me a pm please!

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garrett09 wrote:weird. a girl asked that exact question during the LRAP session at Columbia ("Does Columbia have any plans to make its LRAP work with the federal program?"). And the guy definitely said no, no plans at all... he sounded like it was kind of a out-of-nowhere question. cool, though. hopefully other schools will follow suit over the next few years.

At the ASW in March and the Mondays at Columbia in February the Dean of the Law School mentioned plans to change the LRAP so that it would be more compatible with the IBR. He did mention plans weren't finalized but and that it may not work for everybody mainly due to the requirements of the IBR, work domestically and it also only applies to federal loans. So a little surprisng that in April they didn't address this. It seemed like NYU was going to be doing the same based on their ASW.

Frank wrote:Update this!

Sorry. I didn't notice this got bumped.

You can ask just about any public interest 3L about it because they gave us papers about the policy. In fact, you can PM me if you want. I could even discuss it in person (though not between now and Thursday because of finals), but basically, they haven't finalized anything for people past our year. Personally, I think they're not sure how to market it since the numbers get pretty confusing, but if you're interested in what's available for 3Ls AND you're a current student, I can definitely share some of the info. I know that at least a few 1Ls were involved in giving feedback on this stuff.

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Frank wrote:

chris0805 wrote:

Frank wrote:Update this!

Sorry. I didn't notice this got bumped.

You can ask just about any public interest 3L about it because they gave us papers about the policy. In fact, you can PM me if you want. I could even discuss it in person (though not between now and Thursday because of finals), but basically, they haven't finalized anything for people past our year. Personally, I think they're not sure how to market it since the numbers get pretty confusing, but if you're interested in what's available for 3Ls AND you're a current student, I can definitely share some of the info. I know that at least a few 1Ls were involved in giving feedback on this stuff.

Haha, sorry. I didn't mean to get like that. I guess I'll ask 3Ls. It'd be nice if they released this school-wide.

Just to warn you, if they didn't attend the info session about LRAP and you, they'll have no idea what you're talking about. If they did, they will know, but they might be confused as to how details work out. The calculations get more completed than the old LRAP.

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Not necessarily. There are different options students can utilize. Columbia pays less in some situations at lower salaries, the same at higher salaries, or depending on the "track" a student choose, more at higher salaries. The students, however, always pay the same or less than they would in the traditional program.