Loan Repayment Assistance Program 2023 Application
Updates as of 12/5/2022: On Wednesday, August 24, 2022, the Biden-Harris Administration and the U.S. Department of Education announced a federal student loan debt relief program. Since then, legal challenges have prevented implementation of the program and the Department of Education has stopped accepting applications until the litigation is resolved. UChicago Law will not be requiring that students participating in LRAP apply for the debt relief program. Likewise, receiving debt relief would not impact the amount of your LRAP payment under the income-driven repayment plans (IDR plans) so receipt of debt relief would not impact your eligibility to participate in LRAP.
Repayment Pause Extension
The federal student loan repayment pause was previously set to expire on December 31, 2022 with repayment starting back up on January 1, 2023. However, on November 22, 2022, the Department of Education extended the student loan repayment pause and interest accrual due to the legal challenges to the debt relief program. The student loan payment pause is extended until the litigation is resolved, but no later than June 30, 2023. In either case, payments will start 60 days later.
Due to the repayment pause extension, the Office of Financial Aid has modified the 2023 LRAP Application to add a question asking applicants how they want to proceed with 2023 LRAP funding in light of the pause being extended. Once you complete the LRAP application, you will receive a confirmation email with more information about your next steps for the option you chose. If you have any questions, please contact the Office of Financial Aid via email at financialaid@law.uchicago.edu.
You can find more information about preparing for the restart of repayments, including a list of servicer contact information, at studentaid.gov.
The Law School’s Loan Repayment Assistance Program (LRAP) requires an applicant to submit the following three pieces of information. Please be sure to submit your completed application and documentation by December 5, 2022 to meet the priority review deadline.
1. Application Form: The application form for the 2023 cycle is now available.
2. Employer Certification: The employer certification must be submitted directly to the Law School's Financial Aid Office at financialaid@law.uchicago.edu by an applicant's employer.
REQUIREMENT: If your employer, job title, or salary changes, you must submit a Job/Salary Change Certification (PDF) within 30 days of the change.
3. Loan Documentation: You must provide the following loan documentation from your federal loan servicer via email to financialaid@law.uchicago.edu:
- A consolidation account summary after your consolidation is complete identifying the loans included in the consolidation - This is not required if you did not consolidate your loans.
- A general account summary that identifies all loans included in your Income Driven Repayment (IDR) payment
- An IDR plan confirmation letter
- Your most recent bill showing your payment date, amount and repayment plan
REQUIREMENT: All loans must be in good standing and in repayment. All required loan payments must be made prior to receiving your funding; your loans must remain in repayment at all times and cannot be in forbearance.
REAPPLICANTS:
- LRAP Application and Employment Certification as noted above.
- A payment history of your 2022 payments (this should already be on file if you have been submitting monthly payment documentation).
- An IDR renewal confirmation letter. If your recertification has been extended, please provide your most recent IDR certification letter.
- Your most recent billing statement that matches the IDR renewal confirmation letter.
*Please submit the application and required documentation by December 5, 2022 to meet the priority review deadline. Any document not available by the deadline should be submitted as soon as it is received. Applications received or completed after December 5, 2022 will still be processed and reviewed in the order received but may result in delays in receiving funding. If you are approved for LRAP funding and choose to waive the repayment pause, the Office of Financial Aid and the Law School will work as quickly as possible to process LRAP applications, documentation, and check requests. However, you may need to make your first loan payment out of pocket before you receive your LRAP funding.
ALL APPLICATIONS MUST BE COMPLETED BY MARCH 31, 2023. Any application (including documentation) not received or completed by this date will not receive funding and the applicant will forfeit any LRAP funding for 2023, unless you have received the Committee's approval prior to this deadline.