How to Apply for LRAP

We hosted a Return to Repayment webinar on July 31. You can watch the recording or view the Google Slides to learn more about how to prepare for October.

To get ready for payments to resume in October, follow these steps:

• Log into studentaid.gov to check who your loan servicer is. While you’re there, update your contact information.
• Set up an online account with your loan servicer and enroll or reauthorize auto-debt. Update your contact information, make sure you’ve specified whether you want mailed or paperless communications, and enroll in or reauthorize auto-debt to receive an interest rate deduction and ensure you’re making on-time payments.
• Review your monthly payment and payment plan. What will you be paying, and when is your payment due? What repayment plan are you in, and is the plan still working for you? If you’re pursuing Public Service Loan Forgiveness, you’ll want to be in an Income-Driven Repayment plan.

To ensure you’re set up with an IDR plan, follow these steps:

• Confirm your IDR plan details.
  • If MOHELA is your servicer, log in and go to the Repayment Options → Income-Driven Plan Details page. View an example.
  • If MOHELA isn’t your servicer, log into your servicer’s website and look for a loan details or payment schedule page, or check your servicer’s inbox. If you can’t find anything, give them a call.
  • Log in to studentaid.gov. Click View Details in the My Aid dashboard, scroll down to Loan Breakdown and expand the View Loans down arrow for your DEPT OF ED loans, then click View Loan Details for one of your loans. On that page, you’ll be able to see your repayment plan and your IDR Anniversary Date.
• Already in an IDR plan? There’s no need to update your income yet. Even if your income has increased, you do not need to recertify your plan until September 2024 at the earliest.
• If you aren’t in IDR yet, apply ASAP.

Problems with your account? Contact your servicer and the regulators. Borrowers have been having trouble with their servicers, sometimes getting kicked out of their IDR plan, having their monthly payment miscalculated, or not receiving a billing statement. To find a resolution, you can file a complaint with the California Department of Financial Protection and Innovation and/or contact your loan servicer.

• We recommend applying 1-2 months prior to your next payment.
• LRAP funding is not retroactive. If you want an LRAP contract that starts in October, you must submit an application by 11:59 pm PT on 10/31/23.
• If you have a $0 IDR monthly payment, don’t apply for LRAP now. Apply when your monthly payment increases, which will probably happen in 2024 or 2025 when your current plan expires.
• If you are approaching your 3.5 year deadline to enter LRAP but have a $0 monthly payment, apply for pre-qualification.

When you’re applying for LRAP funding after the payment pause ends, we recommend following these steps:

• Ensure you’re eligible for LRAP

• Gather your LRAP application materials, like a new Employer Verification Form

• In your LRAP application:

  • Indicate your PREFERRED MAILING ADDRESS

  • Upload your PROOF OF MONTHLY PAYMENT AMOUNT. For those on the IDR track, we must know 1) what your IDR payment is and 2) when your IDR plan ends. To find the information we need:

    • If MOHELA is your servicer, log in and go to the Repayment Options → Income-Driven Plan Details page. View an example.
    • Check your loan servicers’ account inbox or website to see if your repayment plan details are listed there.
    • If you can find your IDR plan amount but not the end date on your servicer’s website, log in to studentaid.gov. Click View Details in the My Aid dashboard, scroll down to Loan Breakdown and expand the View Loans down arrow for your DEPT OF ED loans, then click View Loan Details for one of your loans. On that page, you’ll see your IDR Anniversary Date in the Repayment Details box. Screenshot that information to upload in your LRAP application.
    • Contact your servicer if you can’t find these details, because they are required for your LRAP application.

• • If you anticipate any salary or employment changes over the coming year, let us know! You can put this information in the OTHER INCOME section, upload an explanatory document, or just email us.

Scroll down to our application checklist for first-time applicants and checklist for continuing applicants for more details.

Visit our Forms page for regularly updated application forms. If you are unable to submit the application using the online form, you may e-mail a PDF of your application to lrap@law.berkeley.edu.

Worried about meeting the 3.5 year LRAP deadline? You can apply to pre-qualify for 120 months of LRAP funding without having to submit an LRAP application.

To pre-qualify, you need to be 1) in greater-than-half time and paid law-related, public interest work making under $120,000; 2) be in repayment (not in school, in a grace period, or in a forbearance or deferment (the automatic COVID forbearance doesn’t count)); 3) be enrolled in an income-driven repayment plan; and 4) have a $0 monthly payment.

View and submit the pre-qualification form here.

To access the pre-qualification form, you will need to sign into a Google account. You may be prompted to sign in using your CalNet ID, but this can present a problem if you no longer maintain a Berkeley account. Try opening the form in a private browsing window or incognito window to sign in with your personal account. Please reach out if you encounter technical difficulties.

Before submitting your application for LRAP support, all participants (both new and continuing) must choose a “track.” The Standard track is only available for graduating classes through 2012. Graduates on the Standard track have the option of switching to the Income-Driven Repayment (IDR) track at a later date. Please note that if you select the IDR track, you must follow that track for the remainder of your participation in LRAP. Please feel free to contact an LRAP Advisor should you require assistance in choosing the most beneficial track.

☐ Meet with an LRAP Advisor, preferably sometime in your 3L year. An LRAP appointment is a requirement to enter the program. We offer in-person, phone, Zoom, and Google Meet appointments.

☐ LRAP application (view our application FAQs if you get stuck)

☐ Current employment verification form signed by your employer no more than 40 days in the past. Please include a copy of a published job description if this is your first time applying with this job.

☐ Verification of your Income-Driven Repayment plan (IBR, PAYE, or SAVE) in the form of an approval letter or payment schedule. An IDR approval letter typically indicates your approved payment amount, when the plan begins, and when it expires. We do our best to align your LRAP loan and contract period with what your expected loan payments will be during your IDR plan.

• Please see examples of IDR approval letters from loan servicers to assist you in finding the required documentation: MOHELA and Great Lakes.
• If MOHELA is your servicer, you can log in and go to the Repayment Options → Income-Driven Plan Details page. View an example.
• If you can find your IDR plan amount but not the end date on your servicer’s website, log in to studentaid.gov. Click View Details in the My Aid dashboard, scroll down to Loan Breakdown and expand the View Loans down arrow for your DEPT OF ED loans, then click View Loan Details for one of your loans. On that page, you’ll see your IDR Anniversary Date in the Repayment Details box. Download or screenshot that information to upload in your LRAP application.
• If you apply before you receive your latest IDR approval letter, you can email us a copy of your letter when you receive it from your loan servicer. Likewise, you can send any documents you wish to add to your application to lrap@law.berkeley.edu.

☐ Loan indebtedness documents detailing your loan types, balances, and interest rates. You can find this information on your loan servicer’s website or studentaid.gov.

☐ Personal statement. Please describe what brought you to public service and what you see yourself doing over the next five years (approx. 1 page). Although required, the personal statement is not used to determine eligibility.

☐ Completion of the UC Berkeley Controller’s Office vendor registration process, which is required before you can receive an LRAP loan disbursement. You may begin the process only after you 1) submit a first-time LRAP application, and 2) receive your personalized vendor registration link via email. Please review the instructions for completing the vendor registration process. If you sign up for EFT, a voided check and/or bank verification letter is required. You may be asked to upload a signed Conflict of Interest Form if you’ve previously worked for UC.

☐ LRAP application (view our application FAQs if you get stuck)

☐ Current employment verification form signed by your employer no more than 40 days in the past. Please include a copy of a published job description if this is your first time applying with this job.

☐ Loan documentation

• IDR Track: Verification of your Income-Driven Repayment plan (IBR, PAYE, or SAVE) in the form of an approval letter or payment schedule. An IBR/PAYE approval letter typically indicates your approved payment amount, when the plan begins, and when it expires. We do our best to align your LRAP loan and contract period with what your expected loan payments will be during your IDR plan. For this reason, we need to know when your plan begins and when it will expire.
  • Please see examples of IDR approval letters from loan servicers to assist you in finding the required documentation: MOHELA and Great Lakes.
  • If MOHELA is your servicer, you can log in and go to the Repayment Options → Income-Driven Plan Details page. View an example.
  • If you can find your IDR plan amount but not the end date on your servicer’s website, log in to studentaid.gov. Click View Details in the My Aid dashboard, scroll down to Loan Breakdown and expand the View Loans down arrow for your DEPT OF ED loans, then click View Loan Details for one of your loans. On that page, you’ll see your IDR Anniversary Date in the Repayment Details box. Download or screenshot that information to upload in your LRAP application.
  • If you apply before you receive your latest IDR approval letter, you can email us a copy of your letter when you receive it from your loan servicer. Likewise, you can send any documents you wish to add to your application to lrap@law.berkeley.edu.
• Standard Track: we do not need proof of your repayment plan, but may require proof of your total remaining loan balances or your latest billing statement, especially if you are close to paying off your loans.
• Classes of 2012 and earlier: any private loan statements that include the current balance, interest rate, and monthly payment amount.

• We process applications on a rolling basis in the order received and recommend that you upload all required documents to avoid delays. Incomplete applications will take longer to process.
• LRAP coverage will not be granted retroactively, but starts within the month in which the application was received or later.
• Once we receive your application, an LRAP Advisor will review the information and determine your eligibility and disbursement amount.
• If you are eligible for an award, you will receive two emails: 1) an email from the Financial Aid Office containing a DocuSign Access Code, and 2) an email from DocuSign containing a link to view and sign your LRAP award documents.
• Once we receive notification of your signed LRAP award documents, you will receive an email confirmation and a payment request will be submitted to the main campus’ Disbursements Office.
• The main campus will disburse funds typically within approximately 10-14 days. If you do not have EFT set up, this may take 2-3 days longer.

You must submit a forgiveness application to fully or partially forgive each LRAP loan within 30 days of your LRAP contract ending. If you have a salary increase, job change, or don’t use all of your LRAP funds, you may owe some of your LRAP funding back.

To plan for potential repayment, we advise informing us of any job, salary, or family changes immediately by email. You can read more about our forgiveness process in our LRAP Handbooks on pages 14-18.

If your LRAP loan is not fully forgiven, you will owe LRAP funds back to the University. We will create a loan for you with the University of California’s loan servicer, Heartland ECSI. You’ll have at least a 4 month grace period where you will not be required to pay anything back. After your grace period ends, you’ll make payments to Heartland ECSI directly. You can either pay according to LRAP’s quarterly, 3-year repayment schedule; or you can pay everything you owe in one lump sum online or via check.

☐ Forgiveness application

☐ Updated employer verification form signed by your employer (signed no more than 40 days before form submission)

☐ Payment history or redacted bank statement documenting payments for each month of your LRAP contract. A 12-month payment history can typically be downloaded from your loan servicer’s online portal. We are looking to verify that you are making the required payments on your student loans each month for the period of your LRAP contract.