Loan Repayment Assistance Program
HERBERT S. GARTEN LOAN REPAYMENT ASSISTANCE PROGRAM
快猫视频 requests $2 million for the Herbert S. Garten Loan Repayment Assistance Program (LRAP) for FY 2021鈥攖he same amount 快猫视频 has requested for the past three years. Currently, the LRAP program is funded at $1.5 million.
In 2019, 快猫视频 received 170 new applications from attorneys at 82 grantee offices in 42 states and Puerto Rico. The average law school debt for first-year applicants was more than $167,000. 快猫视频 provided loan repayment assistance to a total of 210 recipients, including 109 new recipients.
快猫视频鈥檚 evaluation of the program shows that large law school loan debts, coupled with low salaries, constitute major barriers for grantees in hiring and retaining lawyers. The evaluation found that the availability of LRAP mitigates the economic hardships confronting grantee staff attorneys and increases their ability and willingness to stay with legal aid organizations. Overall, the tenure for LRAP participants was 4.29 years, whereas the tenure for non-participants was 3.58 years. Attorneys who participated in LRAP as currently structured remained with their funded programs on average an additional 8.5 months, or 20% longer, than those who did not participate.
快猫视频 uses a lottery selection process to identify new participants for each annual cycle. Each year, qualified applicants are denied assistance because of insufficient LRAP funding. 快猫视频 has provided loan repayment assistance to an average of 70-80 new participants annually. 快猫视频 has had to turn away a total of 384 applicants, an average of 48 per year, since 2011. With the $500,000 increase in FY 2019, 快猫视频 was able to provide assistance to 125 applicants, 45 more than the previous year. Increased funding for FY 2021 will enable 快猫视频 to expand the program by extending the grant period, adopting a tiered payment structure to incentivize those remaining in the program, and/or increasing the total loan payment amounts.
Over the past seven years, there has been a dramatic increase in the average law school debt among participants. The average law school debt in 2011 was $104,000. Seven years later, the average debt increased to more than $165,000, a nearly a 60% increase.
According to the National Association for Law Placement (NALP), civil legal aid lawyers continue to be the lowest paid group in the legal profession, earning less than public defenders and other public interest lawyers. Entry-level legal aid attorneys at 快猫视频-funded programs earned an average salary of $51,304 in 2017. With an average of more than $150,000 in law school debt, first-year attorneys participating in 快猫视频鈥檚 LRAP need significant loan repayment assistance to supplement low salaries.