Loan Repayment Assistance Program to Begin Accepting Applications on Sept. 1
The Pennsylvania Loan Repayment Assistance Program (LRAP) application period begins on September 1 and continues through October17.
LRAP’s focus is to help attorneys employed at civil legal services organizations funded by Pennsylvania Interest on Lawyers Trust Accounts (PA IOLTA) to better manage their undergraduate and law school debt and to help IOLTA-funded legal aid organizations recruit and retain the best and the brightest attorneys for service in the public good.
The LRAP is a collaboration of the Pennsylvania Bar Foundation, the Pennsylvania Bar Association, the PA IOLTA Board and the Supreme Court of Pennsylvania. The program is funded by the IOLTA Board and Pennsylvania Supreme Court using pro hac vice fees, the admission fee charged to out-of-state attorneys seeking to enter an appearance in a Pennsylvania case.
Loan applicants must be licensed to practice law in Pennsylvania or be permitted to practice law under Bar Admission Rule 311, have a valid Pennsylvania Supreme Court-identification number, be in good standing and practice law as an employee of an IOLTA-funded organization.
At the time of application, the applicant’s total gross salary may not exceed $75,000; however, if the attorney’s annual net debt service is greater than or equal to 10% of the attorney’s current annual gross salary, he/she may apply regardless of the annual gross salary cap. At the time of application, the amount of educational debt based on loans from commercial and government lending institutions, as well as university or other private institutional loans associated with law school and undergraduate educational debts must be greater than or equal to the amount of the LRAP grant. The attorney’s qualifying educational debt must be in satisfactory repayment.
The Bar Foundation administers one loan assistance cycle each year. The amount of loan assistance provided to each applicant will depend on the available funding and the number of qualifying attorney applicants. The 2024 Loan Repayment Assistance Program application period will open on September 1 and applications can be submitted on the WebGrants Portal.
Please consult the Program Policies and the Frequently Asked Questions – FAQs for additional details.