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Loan Repayment Assistance Program Application Instructions

NOVEMBER 1, 2024 SAVE PLAN UPDATE: In July 2024, a federal appeals court issued a stay preventing the Department of Education (ED) from operating the Saving on a Valuable Education (SAVE) repayment plan. The Department of Education placed borrowers on SAVE into an interest-free forbearance starting in August 2024 while the court cases are ongoing. In October 2024, ED announced that borrowers remaining on SAVE can expect to be in forbearance through at least March 2025. Months on this SAVE forbearance period will not count towards Income-Driven Repayment (IDR) forgiveness or PSLF. We have an FAQ available about the forbearance and the impact on LRAP. We also recommend following any updates from the Department of Education at studentaid.gov.

The Law School’s Loan Repayment Assistance Program (LRAP) requires an applicant to submit the following items to complete their application for a calendar year. 

First-Time Applicants

  1. LRAP Application Form: The application form for the 2025 cycle is available online.
  2. Employer Certification Form: The Employer Certification Form (PDF) must be completed by the applicant's employer and the employer must email the completed form directly to the Law School's Financial Aid Office at financialaid@law.uchicago.edu.
  3. Loan Documentation: Provide the following loan documentation from your federal loan servicer via email to financialaid@law.uchicago.edu:
    • An Income Driven Repayment (IDR) plan confirmation letter.
    • A general account summary that identifies all loans included in your IDR payment.
      • If you consolidated your loans, a consolidation account summary after your consolidation is complete identifying the loans included in the consolidation loan.
    • Your most recent bill showing your payment due date, amount, and repayment plan.
      • IF YOU ARE ENROLLED IN SAVE AND WERE PLACED INTO FORBEARANCE: send a copy of your SAVE billing statement from June 2024. If that is unavailable, contact the Financial Aid Office at financialaid@law.uchicago.edu for further guidance.
    • 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 deferment or forbearance.
      • NOTE: This requirement is waived for the 2025 LRAP for alumni who were administratively placed into the SAVE forbearance by their loan servicers.

Reapplicants

  1. LRAP Application Form
  2. Employment Certification Form (PDF)
  3. A payment history of your 2024 payments through November 2024, if not already on file
  4. An IDR renewal confirmation letter from your loan servicer
    • If your recertification has been extended, please provide your most recent IDR confirmation letter
  5. Your most recent billing statement from your loan servicer that matches the amount and plan noted on your IDR renewal confirmation letter  
    • IF YOU ARE ENROLLED IN SAVE AND WERE PLACED INTO FORBEARANCE: send a copy of your SAVE billing statement from June 2024 if possible. If you participated in LRAP in 2024, the Financial Aid Office may also be able to use your 2024 LRAP documentation to confirm your most recent SAVE repayment amount.

General Requirements

If an applicant's employer, job title, salary, or loan repayment status changes after a complete LRAP application has been submitted, the applicant must alert our office via an email to financialaid@law.uchicago.edu within 30 days of the change. Job or salary changes will also require that the employer submit a Job/Salary Change Certification (PDF) to the Financial Aid Office within the 30-day window.

Deadlines

ALL APPLICATIONS MUST BE COMPLETED IN FULL BY MARCH 31, 2025. Any application (including documentation) not received or completed by this deadline will not receive funding and the applicant will forfeit any LRAP funding for 2025, unless you have received the Committee's approval prior to this deadline. We cannot guarantee calendar year 2025 LRAP benefits if you apply past the March 31, 2025 application deadline, even if the SAVE court cases are resolved after that date.

The Financial Aid Office begins reviewing complete LRAP application files in early December. In order to aim for earlier payment of LRAP benefits, submit the application and required documentation by December 2, 2024 to ensure priority review. Applications received or completed after December 2, 2024 will be processed and reviewed in the order received but may result in delays in receiving funding. If you are approved for LRAP funding, the Office of Financial Aid and the Law School will work as quickly as possible to process LRAP applications, documentation, and check requests. The University just underwent a major financial systems transformation so even though we are working to mitigate potential issues, we do not know how long LRAP check request processing will take in the new system. As such, you may need to make your first 2025 loan payment(s) out of pocket before you receive your LRAP funding.

Contact the Financial Aid Office at financialaid@law.uchicago.edu with any questions.