Loan Repayment Assistance Programs
Loan Repayment Assistance Programs are available from a variety of sources, often from schools, employers, states and the federal government. These programs can help your graduates make payments on educational loans.
Printer-friendly versionLoan Repayment Assistance Programs (LRAPs) are a powerful tool to help manage repayment of educational debt.
How do they work?
LRAPs differ from repayment plans, like Income-Based Repayment, and loan forgiveness programs, like PSLF. Rather than lowering monthly payment amounts or providing forgiveness of educational loans in the future, LRAPs provide funds now to make those monthly payments.
They may help provide much needed funds to help pay down any private educational loans (private loans are never eligible for federal relief programs).
It also may be possible to use LRAPs in conjunction with some federal relief programs. For example: Your alum may be working in qualifying employment for Public Service Loan Forgiveness and enrolled in IBR to receive lowered income-based payments on her Federal Direct Loans. If she qualifies for an LRAP, she may be able to use these funds to make those lowered income-based monthly payments until she makes 120 of them and the government grants her PSLF!
What does your LRAP look like? Important questions to ask about any LRAP
What does your LRAP look like? Is there a service requirement? How long can your graduates participate? Equal Justice Works has compiled some basic questions to ask about any LRAP.