Financial Support for Public Interest Students and Alumni

Every year, Golden Gate University School of Law awards renewable scholarships to new students who have a demonstrated commitment to public service work.

Public Interest Scholars are invited to participate in special monthly programs, including presentations by faculty and public interest practitioners, panel discussions, and tours of public interest law offices. The Public Interest Scholars Program also features pro bono activities, and student and alumni mentoring. If you have specific questions about the Public Interest Scholars Program, please feel free to contact the Director for Public Interest Programs, Leeor Neta. He may be reached by email at lneta@ggu.edu or by phone at (415) 369-5391.

To apply for the Public Interest Law Scholars Program, submit the regular application along with a list of public interest activities in which you have participated and a two-page (double-spaced) essay describing your interest in and commitment to public interest law. The essay should include a statement about how you plan to pursue public interest law during and after law school. Students who qualify for federal work-study may apply to this unique program, which permits students to gain valuable paid work experience with government agencies and public interest organizations that cannot afford to pay students. Since 1991, Golden Gate University School of Law has provided financial support for alumni who are working in low-paying public interest positions. Find out more about LRAP. Golden Gate provides financial support for students to attend national and local conferences and events. PILF is a student organization that raises money and disburses as grants to continuing students who are engaged in public-interest work. E-mail PILF for more information.

Law school graduates can now benefit from multiple programs established through the College Cost Reduction and Access Act (CCRAA), which was enacted in 2007. These loan assistance and loan forgiveness plans are intended to help graduates working in public sector jobs as well as those with high debt to income ratios. To qualify for these programs, a borrower's student loans must be consolidated through the Federal Direct Loan program. Please visit www.equaljusticeworks.org and http://www.equaljusticeworks.org/files/ejw_ccraa.pdf for more information.

The Public Service Loan Forgiveness program will forgive remaining debt after 10 years of employment in a public service capacity while making 120 qualifying loan payments. To learn more about Public Service Loan Forgiveness, please review this checklist, www.equaljusticeworks.org/files/basic_checklist.pdf.

The most recent program, the Income Based Repayment plan, became available in July 2009. This plan caps monthly federal student loan payments based on the borrower's income and family size. For most eligible borrowers, IBR loan payments will be less than 10 percent of their income. Borrowers with high debt and low earnings may have even smaller payments. Under the IBR plan, any remaining debt will be forgiven after 25 years of qualifying payments.

We highly encourage our graduates to take advantage of these opportunities for loan forgiveness and/or loan assistance.