Public Service Loan Forgiveness Program Expanded

“AS EDUCATORS WE DREAM OF PREPARING ALL STUDENTS FOR CAREERS IN WHICH THEY FLOURISH AND CONTRIBUTE TO THE BETTERMENT OF THE WORLD,” says Lawrence C. Marshall, professor of law, associate dean for public interest and clinical education and the David and Stephanie Mills Director of Clinical Education. “Stanford’s LRAP program can make that dream a reality for our students who wish to pursue careers in public service.” • After pioneering loan forgiveness more than 20 years ago, Stanford Law School this year made several significant enhancements to the Miles and Nancy Rubin Loan Repayment Assistance Program (LRAP). With the help of an anonymous $2 million contribution and an additional $1 million matching gift from Miles Rubin ’52 (BA ’50) and his wife Nancy, a career in public service is now more affordable than ever for Stanford Law alumni. • Stanford Law’s LRAP provides loan repayment assistance by lending participants funds each year so they can pay their often substantial educational debt while doing low-paying public service work. A portion of Stanford Law’s annual LRAP loan is then “forgiven.” The big changes to the program involve the salary level and timing for complete loan forgiveness. Previously, a percentage of the Stanford Law LRAP loan was forgiven only after three years of continuous public service work, with 100 percent forgiveness not possible until year five. With this latest enhancement to the program, 100 percent of Stanford Law’s annual LRAP loans are forgiven after each year of public service employment, starting the very first year. Additionally, program participants can earn more income without losing a portion of their loan forgiveness now that the cumulative yearly income at which full forgiveness may be achieved has been raised from $45,000 to $50,000. • “The average LRAP participant will likely see a 25 percent increase in his/her annual LRAP benefits,” says Susan Feathers, executive director of the John and Terry Levin Center for Public Service and Public Interest Law.

A look at the educational-debt-to-expected-salary equation highlights the challenge for alumni seeking a public service career. In the late 1980s tuition at Stanford Law was approximately $12,000 per year and the average graduate left with approximately $40,000 in educational debt, while the starting salary at a private firm was about $60,000 and in the public sector between $20,000 and $35,000. Today, Stanford Law tuition is just over $40,000 per year and graduates can expect to leave with an average of $100,000 in educational debt. But starting salaries for associates at big law firms have more than kept pace with tuition inflation: Today graduates working at private firms in a major city can expect an associate’s salary of $160,000 plus bonus. Yet public service salaries have limped along and are currently about $40,000 to $50,000, rising to $55,700 for Justice Department entry level positions in the Washington, D.C. area.

Growth in the program is equally compelling. In 1987, there were four participants in Stanford Law’s LRAP. Today, the program provides benefits to about 100 alumni, with more added after each year’s graduation.

“I believe that loan forgiveness in these circumstances is a moral obligation for Stanford,” says Larry Kramer, Richard E. Lang Professor of Law and Dean. “The costs of legal education are such that the subsequent debt has made it impossible for some of our graduates to choose a career in one whole sector within the profession.”