Stanford Law’s chief financial officer Frank Brucato called the pilot program “a game changer,” predicting it could establish a new, national model of financing law school.

The school settled on $170,000 as the median amount current and future students are projected to borrow, Brucato said.

Stanford Law will fully cover repayment for Flywheel pilot participants earning less than $100,000 and subsidize payments for those earning between $100,000 and $115,000, at a projected annual cost to the school of $200,000 to $300,000, Brucato said.

That could be a relief for many students and graduates who might otherwise be carrying six figures in traditional law school debt, said Stanford law professor Ralph Richard Banks.

“This could ultimately extend far beyond Stanford,” Banks said. “There is great potential here.”