Repayment
Options
Law school
debt for our baby lawyers is bone-crunching.
Equal
Justice Works does a fine job of describing ways to reduce or extend
the debt including:
Civil Legal Assistance Attorney Student Loan Repayment Program
Fulltime (at least 30 hrs/wk) licensed attorneys with federal loans who
are working in nonprofit organizations providing free civil legal
assistance to low-income clients or are with a protection & advocacy or
client assistance program may qualify. First come first served
with anticipated application deadline of August 16, 2010.
College Cost
Reduction and Access Act
This legislation places
a ceiling on payments for borrowers with high educational loan
obligations and enables them to make affordable payments for 10 years
while working in public service. After ten years, the government
will forgive the remaining obligation.
It applies to borrowers working in public service jobs including legal
aid and any 501(c)(3) organization. Signed into law in 2007, the
final regulations should be available in November 2008.
Loan
Repayment Assistance Programs (LRAPs)
You can get
a list of law
schools that offer LRAPs using the search function on the
E-Guide to Public Service at America's Law Schools.
Consolidation Loans
Federal
Consolidation Loans allow you to pay off multiple loans winding up
with one monthly payment. There are three options with these
loans which allow you to make lower payments over a longer
time period, make monthly payments tied to your income, or make
gradually increasing payments.
http://www.financialaid.com/halo/index.cfm
Tax
Deductions & Credits
Deduct
Student Loan Interest
Taxpayers
may deduct up to $2500 per year of student loan interest.
There are limits based on your filing status and adjusted gross income.
Check it out on the IRS
website.
Lifetime
Learning Credit
Taxpayers
can reduce federal income tax dollar for dollar up to $2,000 —
20% of the first $10,000 of the qualified tuition and related
expenses. For particulars, go to the
IRS.
Public
Interest Attorney Loan Repayment Program – California
AB 935
would create an endowment that could provide up to $15,000
per year for a maximum of five years for selected public interest
attorneys practicing law in California.
Introduced
by Assembly Member Hertzberg, Feb 23, 2001, the bill passed but is not
funded.
Full text
of the bill
