News

Duke Law School is enhancing the benefits available through its Loan Repayment Assistance Program (LRAP), which reduces the cost of legal education for graduates who commit to careers in public service.

Duke Law’s LRAP reduces the degree to which financing the cost of a legal education can limit career options and opens the door to public service careers by providing a path for total loan forgiveness. Graduates working in eligible public interest or government positions can have up to 100% of their monthly loan payments covered for the entire 10-year period necessary to qualify for the federal Public Service Loan Forgiveness program.

The enhancements to LRAP will raise the eligible salary for full coverage of monthly loan payments as well as the cap to qualify for partial coverage. Graduates earning $65,000 or less will now be eligible for coverage of 100% of their monthly payments and graduates earning up to $90,000 will now be eligible for partial coverage.

LRAP’s treatment of a graduate’s personal assets will also change. Home equity will no longer be counted as an asset that could reduce benefits under the program, and the limit on “protected assets” that are shielded from consideration for purposes of LRAP eligibility will rise from $15,000 to $50,000.

The faculty also eliminated the reduction in LRAP benefits as a result of mid-cycle salary increases and extended the LRAP eligibility period for graduates who serve in judicial clerkships by up to three years.  

“The enhancements to our LRAP will mean that more Duke Law students can pursue public interest careers without being constrained by their educational debt,” said Kerry Abrams, James B. Duke and Benjamin N. Duke Dean of the School of Law. “I want to thank the Admissions and Financial Aid Committee and Dean Hoye for proposing these important changes and the Duke Law faculty for adopting them.”

For more information, visit the LRAP page on Duke Law’s website.