Pennsylvania IOLTA Loan Repayment Assistance Program

Through the Pennsylvania IOLTA Loan Repayment Assistance Program, qualified applicants may be able to qualify for student loan forgiveness. Help attorneys employed at IOLTA-funded legal services organizations across the state better manage their undergraduate and law school student loan debt so they can afford to remain in public service, and to Help IOLTA-funded legal aid organizations recruit and retain the best and the brightest attorneys for service in the public good. Read on to see eligibility requirements, award amounts, and the application process for the Pennsylvania IOLTA Loan Repayment Assistance Program.

Eligibility?

In order to be eligible for the Pennsylvania IOLTA Loan Repayment Assistance Program, you must meet the following criteria:

How much can I expect to be awarded? 

Through the Pennsylvania IOLTA Loan Repayment Assistance Program, the loan amounts that applicants may qualify for will Vary.

The LRAP is a collaboration of the Pennsylvania Bar Foundation, the Pennsylvania Bar Association, the PA IOLTA Board and the Supreme Court of Pennsylvania. The 2006 Report and Recommendation of the PBA Task Force on Student Loan Forgiveness and Repayment Assistance advocated for the establishment of a statewide LRAP. The IOLTA Board identified and recommended pro hac vice fees, the admission fee charged to out-of-state attorneys seeking to enter an appearance in a Pennsylvania case, to the Pennsylvania Supreme Court as the revenue source to support the program. In 2007, the Supreme Court of Pennsylvania ordered the establishment of the pro hac vice fee in Pennsylvania, dedicated the revenue to the support of the LRAP and in 2010 doubled the support by increasing the pro hac vice fee from $100 to $200. Chief Justice Thomas G. Saylor and the court have recently reaffirmed the court’s commitment to increasing the pool of attorneys available to provide civil legal services to Pennsylvanians who cannot afford them by increasing Pennsylvania’s pro hac vice fee to $375, an amount still less than that charged by many other states.

Loan applicants must be licensed to practice law in Pennsylvania or be permitted to practice law under Bar Admission Rule 311, have a valid Pennsylvania Supreme Court-identification number, be in good standing and practice law as an employee of an IOLTA-funded organization. At the time of application, the applicant’s total gross salary may not exceed $66,000; however, if the attorney’s annual net debt service is greater than or equal to 10% of the attorney’s current annual gross salary he/she may apply regardless of the annual gross salary cap. At the time of application, the amount of educational debt based on loans from commercial and government lending institutions, as well as university or other private institutional loans associated with law school and undergraduate educational debts must be greater than or equal to the amount of the LRAP grant. The attorney’s qualifying educational debt must be in satisfactory repayment.

The program provides one-year loans, payable to qualified attorneys quarterly, with a 12-month employment requirement at qualifying organizations. Providing a participating attorney continues to meet the eligibility requirements, the attorney can apply for and receive up to ten, one-year loans over his/her tenure in qualified employment. The loans must be used to repay loans incurred for undergraduate and law school education costs and bar exam study and will be forgiven at the end of each year if eligibility requirements have been met.

Provided the participating attorney retains eligibility for the entire 12-month period and fully complies with all of the requirements set forth in the loan agreement, the full amount of the loan together with all interest that has accrued on the loan shall be forgiven and canceled on January 31, 2021.

Please consult the Program Policies and the Frequently Asked Questions – FAQs for additional details. Please consult the Pennsylvania Bar Foundation – PA IOLTA LRAP – Online Application Tutorial, Tips and Hints below for help completing the online loan application.

The Bar Foundation administers one loan assistance cycle each year. The amount of loan assistance provided to each applicant will depend on the available funding and the number of qualifying attorney applicants. The 2020 application process will begin on September 1, 2019. On or after September 1, 2019, click here to be redirected to the WebGrants website and the 2020 LRAP application or visit: www.paioltagrants.org. The application deadline for the 2020 loan cycle is October 15, 2019.

2019-2020 LRAP Reporting and Disbursement Schedule

Quarterly Certification Due	Loan Advance Disbursed
N/A	January 3, 2020
March 29, 2020	April 15, 2020
June 28, 2020	July 15, 2020
September 30, 2020	October 15, 2020
December 30, 2020	N/A

For a full breakdown of this programs offers, head over to their website.

How do I apply for this repayment program?

In order to apply for the Oregon State Bar Loan Repayment Assistance Program, you will need to follow this PDF and register with the program site.

If you would like more information regarding this program, please use the contact information below:

Address: 100 South Street, Harrisburg, PA 17101
Toll-Free: 1-888-238-3036
Phone: 717-213-2501
Email: [email protected]
Web: www.pabarfoundation.org

Questions?

If you still have questions or would like to know more information please reach out to us here or you can go back to the Student Loan Repayment Assistance Programs page.