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Forgive me if this has been covered before -- I went back a few pages and couldn't find anything about it, and I find the search feature on this site really hard to use effectively.

Anyway, I've been looking really seriously at the federal loan forgiveness program for public interest work. I'm probably going to be going to UCLA with minimal or no merit aid, but I really wanted to do public interest work, particularly disability advocacy. If it really works the way they say it does (everything can be covered by Stafford loans and Grad Plus, 120 15% payments for 10 years and then total forgiveness), I guess I'm a little confused as to how LRAP plays into it. Or is the LRAP for non-federal loans?

have u looked at this http://cdn.law.ucla.edu/SiteCollectionD ... 0CHART.pdf

Well, only the first column is really relevant -- the footnote says that for the class of 2011 and beyond, everyone will be using the IBR option. But it looks like the LRAP repayment is for private loans? That makes sense. I'll call the financial aid office for more info tomorrow.

"Starting with the graduating Class of 2011, IBR will be required."

Sounds to me like UCLA will be dropping their LRAP and graduates will just rely on IBR.

I think this will happen for a lot of schools. Only the very best schools actually have LRAPs that are much more comprehensive than IBR, so it doesn't make sense for schools like UCLA, whose LRAP probably wasn't all that great, to still have their own independent loan repayment/forgiveness program.

But the federal program is as good as it sounds, right? What I really want to do after I graduate is disability advocacy work, so public interest is right in my line -- I'm not really steering towards Biglaw at all. The federal program sounds like a total boon, but it almost sounds too good, like there's gotta be a catch somewhere.

mmmadeli wrote:But the federal program is as good as it sounds, right? What I really want to do after I graduate is disability advocacy work, so public interest is right in my line -- I'm not really steering towards Biglaw at all. The federal program sounds like a total boon, but it almost sounds too good, like there's gotta be a catch somewhere.

I think it's fine if you stay in public interest for the ten years and get your loans forgiven. But if you leave after seven years or something, you've made little to no progress on your loans. I personally find it a bit frightening to commit, at my age, to doing a certain type of thing for ten years.

The LRAPs cover the payments you make on your loans. UCLA isn't getting rid of their LRAP, they just won't cover standard payments. Their LRAP is awesome.

beef wellington wrote:The LRAPs cover the payments you make on your loans. UCLA isn't getting rid of their LRAP, they just won't cover standard payments. Their LRAP is awesome.

Maybe you could elaborate?

So UCLA's LRAP would cover your IBR payments according to their formula? That's handy, I guess. But you still have to stay in PI for 10 years in order to get the forgiveness and your benefits are much smaller than they would be if you weren't on IBR. (I.e., if you quit after 5 years, you wouldn't have made any progress on your loans, whereas you would have with an LRAP that covered standard payments.)

dutchstriker wrote:

beef wellington wrote:The LRAPs cover the payments you make on your loans. UCLA isn't getting rid of their LRAP, they just won't cover standard payments. Their LRAP is awesome.

Maybe you could elaborate?

So UCLA's LRAP would cover your IBR payments according to their formula? That's handy, I guess. But you still have to stay in PI for 10 years in order to get the forgiveness and your benefits are much smaller than they would be if you weren't on IBR. (I.e., if you quit after 5 years, you wouldn't have made any progress on your loans, whereas you would have with an LRAP that covered standard payments.)

Yeah you got it. I imagine most all LRAPs will start requiring IBR. Since the payments are so much smaller they can cover a lot more people that way. But as you said you should be prepared to commit the whole ten years.

I had this question too. I'm interested in government work after law school. Its always tough to say no to a bigger private salary but I have always wanted to work for the state or federal government. Good luck with your PI work!