Top Law Schools

What top schools have the best LRAPs?

and more specifically, between Berkeley, Duke, and Cornell - which school has the most generous program?

Michigan and Georgetown are pretty great.

Of the 3 you mentioned I think Cornell's and Berkeley's are probably tied. Duke's is definitely the worst of the 3.

From my understanding Chicago has the best LRAP in the nation.

http://www.law.uchicago.edu/news/dramat ... ed-support

For those that aren't going to read the article. Chicago LRAP has a cap of $80,000, does not count spousal income towards the cap, covers everything that is considered under the Federal LRAP, AND it covers clerkships. It also gives bonuses for rigor.

I would say that Yale's program is far and away the best because it doesn't restrict the type of work that is eligible. Clerkships, fellowships, etc.. are not covered by most LRAP programs (unless you go directly into a 501(c)(3) or govt. afterwards). It also has no effective cap on income, just graduated and scaled contributions.

http://www.law.yale.edu/admissions/coap.htm

bdubs wrote:I would say that Yale's program is far and away the best because it doesn't restrict the type of work that is eligible. Clerkships, fellowships, etc.. are not covered by most LRAP programs (unless you go directly into a 501(c)(3) or govt. afterwards). It also has no effective cap on income, just graduated and scaled contributions.

http://www.law.yale.edu/admissions/coap.htm

Chicago's LRAP program appears to only exclude law school employees and unpaid positions (i.e. internships and volunteering jobs). Dunno about fellowship, but clerkship is definitely covered.

It's possible Yale's program is still better but I'd hold my judgment until I knew whether Yale accounts for spousal income.

NYU's isn't bad. I expect to pay back about 10% of my loans, which is a pretty good deal. I can't speak for the other schools though.

badfish wrote:NYU's isn't bad. I expect to pay back about 10% of my loans, which is a pretty good deal. I can't speak for the other schools though.

I heard NYU's was quite good, but I'd venture to say ours is better now that it's been revamped. The whole 'not accounting for spousal income/any income beyond what your job pays you' part is just really, really generous.

I havent researched too heavily into those schools, but UIUC has a really good deal relative to its rank. Starting income is capped at 55k to qualify, but goes up to 65k. If you have a spouse, they divide the combined income by 2 and use that number (there are write-offs). Take the difference between your income and 36k, you divide that number by 2, and you owe the remainder. Let's say I work for the Attorney General, and they start at 50k. The difference is 14k, and so I pay 7k a year. I can get out of the program anytime, but if I stay in, at 3 years they will forgive 25%, 4 years 50%, 5 75%, and 6 100%. So if I work for the AG, and I average 56k over those 6 years, then I will end up paying 60k for law school...not a bad deal.