LRAP FAQs

If you are eligible for LRAP support, you will receive funding directly from Berkeley Law in the form of a forgivable loan for a given period of time. During that period, you will make the required student loan payments to your loan servicer on a monthly basis. At the end of your LRAP contract, you’ll submit a forgiveness application and provide proof of those loan payments, income, and employment. If your income remained the same and you made your payments as expected, your LRAP loan will be forgiven.

No, LRAP coverage begins at the end of your grace period for federal loans, which is generally in November or December if you graduate in May.

Absolutely. Berkeley Law is committed to supporting its public interest graduates.

Our LRAP is funded primarily by the Professional Degree Supplemental Tuition fee and is not dependent on state funding. However, the law school budget as a whole is not unlimited.

If you are unsure on the agency that services your loans, you log into the Federal Student Aid website, where you’ll be able to see your loan servicer. Once you’ve located your loan servicer, you can create an online account to access your balance, make payments, and download payment histories.

It is common to receive a $0 monthly payment in your first or second years of repayment. That’s because the Department of Education uses the adjusted gross income on your tax return to determine what your monthly payment amount should be under an income-driven repayment plan. If the income on your tax return is less than 150% – 225% of the federal poverty standard, it is likely you’ll receive a $0 monthly payment. That means you must have an AGI of greater than approximately $20,000 – $30,000 to receive a monthly payment greater than $0. In your first year of repayment, the Dep’t of Ed will be looking at your tax return from your 2L – 3L year. In your second year of repayment, the Dep’t of Ed will be looking at your tax return from your graduation year, which may only reflect a few months worth of income.

Fortunately, a $0 monthly payment counts as a qualifying payment for Public Service Loan Forgiveness if assigned through the income-driven repayment plan application process and if you are employed in qualifying employment. Thus, there’s no need for you to make any extra payments. The $0 payment shouldn’t be a cause for concern if you plan on pursuing PSLF, but be aware that making $0 payment will cause you to have unpaid interest and your loans to grow in balance (negative amortization). We recommend reviewing the PSLF requirements (on the Federal Student Aid page and on our website) to make sure you know all the things you need to do to comply.

The Department of Education uses the adjusted gross income on your tax return to determine what your monthly payment amount should be under an income-driven repayment plan. Therefore, the income used by the federal government may be less than your current income.

Sure thing. For LRAP, all that matters is that you use, at minimum, the LRAP funding we’ve awarded you. For PSLF, you just need to pay, at minimum, your scheduled monthly payment.

Negative amortization occurs when the payments on a loan are less than the interest that accrues each month, causing the loan balance to increase.

IBR, PAYE, REPAYE, SAVE, and ICR are all examples of income-driven repayment plans (IDR). You apply for an income-driven repayment plan with your loan servicer, and they will calculate a payment that is 5-15% of your discretionary income from the prior year. This is the monthly payment that is used to calculate your LRAP forgivable loan amount. (Only the graduating classes of 2012 and prior are eligible for coverage under the Standard 10-year repayment plan.) Please note that income contingent repayment (ICR) is not eligible for LRAP support.

If you want to stay in LRAP and pursue PSLF, you cannot refinance your loans with a private company. LRAP assistance is available only for federal student loans enrolled in a federal income-driven repayment plan. Refinancing will transfer your loans from the Department of Education to a private company and remove any ability to enter into income-driven repayment or utilize Public Service Loan Forgiveness. You are welcome to refinance if you no longer plan to use LRAP or PSLF.

Please refer to the table below for a suggested timeline for actions you should take during your graduation year.

Please refer to the table below for a suggested timeline for actions you should take each year.

If your income changes in a given month, we use the income that corresponds to the position you held for the majority of the month. If your income is over $80,000, you may not be eligible to have 100% of your LRAP loan forgiven. This is addressed in the cancellation (i.e. forgiveness) application review. If you need to “repay” funds, you will be notified after your forgiveness application is reviewed and will have a four month grace period before you need to make payments on the amount owed. However, to help you plan financially, we recommend notifying us as soon as possible (according to the terms of the LRAP promissory note) of any changes that may impact your eligibility so that we can estimate how much of your LRAP loan will not be forgiven. 

Please notify us of changes immediately and include the effective dates.

Since we issue LRAP payments through the main campus, we also need to get your information updated with the UC Berkeley vendoring and disbursement teams. To do so, you should complete the supplier update DocuSign form. Please contact lrap@law.berkeley.edu for information about your supplier ID number, staff contact information, and other required fields.

LRAP is designed to support graduates entering into public interest. For one-year (or less-than-two-year) clerkships, you must enter public interest employment immediately following your clerkship or you will be asked to repay the LRAP funds you received while in the clerkship. Completion of a two-year or longer clerkship (or multiple clerkships totaling two or more years) satisfies the employment requirement for LRAP. However, if you don’t finish the second year of your clerkship, you will need to enter qualifying employment (either at a 501(c)(3) or government entity) immediately following the clerkship to have your LRAP loan forgiven.

If you are unemployed during your LRAP contract, you are not eligible for LRAP during the period of time. The change in employment will be addressed through the cancellation process. If you received LRAP funds in excess of your eligibility, we will bill you for that amount.

There are multiple reasons why an LRAP contract length may be less than 12 months. We try to align LRAP contract periods with your income-driven repayment plan and any anticipated changes in your job or monthly payment amount. This is to ensure that your LRAP forgivable loan is as accurate as possible from the onset.

LRAP applications are processed in the order received. It can take up to 4 weeks for your LRAP application to be processed and for you to receive funding. If your application is incomplete or you have an address change, this process may take longer.

If you have EFT set up, it can take a couple of days for the funds to be deposited into your account. If you don’t, a paper check should arrive in approximately two weeks.

Yes! We strongly encourage you to set up EFT (electronic funds transfer) to receive your LRAP forgivable loan funds directly into a bank account of your choosing! This not only prevents checks from getting lost in the mail, but also means that you receive your funds faster. You must sign up for EFT again after you graduate–this is a separate EFT account/process than when you were a student.

If you are a first-time LRAP applicant, we recommend applying for EFT when during the vendor registration process. You will be required to upload a voided check or bank verification letter as part of that process. If you are a continuing applicant and want to sign up for EFT, email us.

For questions related to EFT, please email disburse@berkeley.edu.

Since we issue LRAP payments through the main campus, we need get your information updated with the UC Berkeley vendoring and disbursement teams. To do so, you should complete the supplier update DocuSign form. Please contact lrap@law.berkeley.edu for information about your supplier ID number, staff contact information, and other required fields.

Please send your updated income information to lrap@law.berkeley.edu. When your cancellation (forgiveness) application is being processed, the LRAP team will re-calculate your eligibility and notify you of the portion of your LRAP loan that is ineligible to be forgiven. If you are required to repay funds, you will be given advanced notice and there will be a four-month grace period before payment is required.

Yes, it does matter. In order to receive LRAP funds you must be enrolled in an eligible repayment plan and make monthly, regularly scheduled payments within that LRAP contract period. Payments made outside of the LRAP contract period will not be counted in the forgiveness review. Late payments do not count as qualifying payments for PSLF purposes. If you are enrolled in the IDR track and plan to pursue Public Service Loan Forgiveness, it’s critical that you make your payments on time, when a payment is due, and in the amount required by your income-driven repayment plan. Late payments do not count for PSLF. We encourage everyone pursuing PSLF to become familiar with the PSLF requirements and reach out with any questions.