Over Half of Law Schools Offer Loan Forgiveness for Public Service

Over half of the country's law schools now have some kind of loan forgiveness program for J.D.s who accept employment in government or public service, according to a study by Equal Justice Works.

The programs make it easier for brand-new J.D.s to accept lower-paying government and nonprofit jobs by paying off all or part of the educational loans a participant would otherwise have to repay.

Despite the growing availability of debt forgiveness programs, only a small fraction of law school graduates pursue careers in the governmental or public service sectors each year. According to Equal Justice Works, most schools see no more than one quarter of their graduates go into public service. Yale University, which has one of the most generous loan forgiveness programs in the country, has placed between 13 and 19 per cent of its recent graduates in public service jobs.

Source: "For Law Grads, Private Practice Pay Tough to Pass Up," by Douglas S. Malan and Sandhya Bathija, New York Lawyer, September 1, 2006