Hoping to encourage more law school graduates to pursue public service careers, the Law School has revised its approach to loan assistance through two new initiatives launched by Dean John C. Jeffries.
The changes are revised versions of the loan forgiveness program and the Louis F. Powell Fellowship, and aim to extend loan forgiveness to more graduates.
Traditionally, many law students enter the legal profession with expectations of helping others. But formidable student debts often make it difficult for graduating students to enter lower-paying public service jobs, and they instead take more lucrative positions with larger firms.
"The average law student debt can run as high as $70,000 or $75,000," Law School spokesman Michael Marshall said. "A starting salary of $35,000 in a legal aid firm just doesn't cover that."
The new programs would help allow more students to take jobs such as civil service attorneys and government prosecutors, as well as work for legal aid societies that assist initiatives such as housing and environmental projects.
As opposed to loan deferral, loan forgiveness eliminates the responsibility of graduates in certain low-paying public service jobs to pay back loans.
The new Virginia Loan Forgiveness Program, which replaces the Public Service Loan Assistance Program, makes the process of applying and receiving loan forgiveness much easier.
Loan forgiveness is conferred on an annual basis, and the cap for those eligible for forgiveness was raised to an income of $60,000 instead of $45,000, making more graduates eligible for the program.
Under the old program, only lawyers who worked in the 20 least-served counties in Virginia qualified for loan forgiveness. In the new program, all graduates who are employed anywhere in Virginia are eligible. This stipulation also is intended to encourage trained graduates to stay in Virginia, where under-served rural areas are able to provide compensation to a lawyer in the private sector comparable to that of lawyers in urban areas.
The Louis F. Powell Fellowship was launched in order to honor Supreme Court Justice Powell for his work for those in need. Current third-year and graduate law students now serving a clerkship are eligible. The fellowship provides a stipend of $35,000. Applicants most likely will be judged on their commitment to public service, according to Kimberly Emery, a faculty member in the Law School's public service center.
Marshall said Law School officials hope these programs will enhance the school's reputation as one that prepares students to work for the public welfare as well as in corporate law.
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