Berkeley Law Expands Loan Program
Posted: Sunday, 06 September 2009 9:55AM
Berkeley Law Expands Loan Program
BERKELEY, Calif. (KCBS) -- UC Berkeley's Boalt Hall School of Law announced this week that it's expanding its loan repayment assistance program for alumni who pursue public interest or government work.
UC Berkeley's Loan Repayment Assistance Program has been helping graduates repay their student loans for the past decade. It will expand in January to offer unlimited help to alumni who earn up to $65,000 a year. Previously the amount had been capped at $100,000 for alumni who make less than $58,000 per year.
"The law school provides the graduates who meet the income and employment requirements with a forgivable loan. Every six months, they're required to make their student loan payments," explained Berkeley Law Assistant Dean of Financial Aid Dennis Tominaga. He said those loans are forgiven if the students maintain the income and job requirements and uses the money make student loan payments.
KCBS’ Melissa Culross Reports
Rebecca Hart graduated from Berkeley Law in 2007 with about $140,000 in loan debt and now is a legal fellow for the Center for Reproductive Rights in New York. She says Berkeley's loan repayment assistance program is one of the things that attracted her to the school
"If I was going to pursue public interest work, it had to be at a place that it was going to make it possible for me to purse that work financially after law school because the salaries are not the same as salaries when you start as an associate at a law firm," said Hart.
Berkeley has been able to expand the assistance program by integrating it with the federal College Cost Reduction and Access Act's Income-Based Repayment plan.
Copyright 2009, KCBS. All Rights Reserved.
Votes:12
Comments: 0