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Contact the Indiana Law Financial Aid Office
Phone: (812) 855-7746
E-mail: iulawfa [at] indiana [dot] edu

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Doctor of Jurisprudence (JD)

Financial Information

Kathleen A. Buck Loan Reduction Assistance Program

For more than 15 years, Indiana Law has had a Loan Reduction Assistance Program (LRAP) to assist students who demonstrate commitment to public interest careers through their actions and behavior while in law school and who then decide to work in public interest/governmental qualifying positions after graduation.

In recent years, the Law School has had a three-tiered LRAP program. The LRAP One program provided special third-year, public interest scholarships to students who displayed a clear public interest commitment. LRAP Two provided public interest grants to students at graduation to bridge the time gap until they started their public interest positions. LRAP Three provided funds to allow graduates working in public interest jobs to help repay their educational loans.

As of summer 2009, the Law School has consolidated the three LRAP programs into the LRAP Two option, to have the available funds make a bigger impact for graduates at a critical time when those funds are most needed. At graduation, students must prepare for summer living expenses as well as bar review and application expenses. However, these are not expenses for which federal education loans can be obtained. Even the private loans available in the past have become much more limited. Accordingly, this is a time of special need, and LRAP grants of $2,000 to $6,000 can help serve as financial bridges for graduates as they prepare to take their bar exams and to start their careers. In making this policy change, the Law School recognized that general merit-based scholarships to students have increased dramatically, including to the public interest-oriented students, thus lessening the overall need to designate special scholarship funds for public interest. Also, the new federal loan repayment programs have provided additional opportunities for graduates working in public interest positions to choose plans with lower monthly payments. Plus, graduates can obtain full remaining educational debt forgiveness, which is a tremedous benefit, by working in a qualifying position for at least ten years. For all of these reasons, the Law School has consolidated the LRAP programs.

In addition to this new LRAP program and generous scholarship assistance, there is a special summer fellowship program and a Legal Services Office Fellowship ($4,000 available to second- and third-year students working at Legal Services), which continue to reflect Indiana Law's commitment to support students with public interest aspirations.

We think this program is particularly good for students who demonstrate an unyielding focus on public interest while in law school, through action and involvement. The program not only helps reduce the principal on existing loans, but also eliminates the interest additional loans might have accrued.

More about Kathleen Buck and the program

The Kathleen A. Buck Loan Repayment Assistance Program supports and assists Indiana Law graduates who choose careers in public interest law and aids public interest employers in recruiting and retaining talented and experienced lawyers by relieving the burdens imposed by rising student debt loads. An Academy of Law Alumni Fellows member and a beloved 1973 alumna, her work in the public interest was recognized by countless organizations before her death in 2001, Buck’s bequest shines a positive light on a legal profession that needs talented lawyers to represent underserved communities.

For more information contact Catherine Matthews, Dean of Students (calmatth@indiana.edu).