John Manning with former Harvard Law Dean Elena Kagan.

Harvard Law Makes It Easier To Pay Back Student Loans

If you’re a Harvard Law grad struggling to pay back your student loans, there’s good news.
Harvard Law School Dean John F. Manning has approved a number of changes to the school’s Low Income Protection Plan, according to the Harvard Crimson.
Changes to the plan—which helps low paid Harvard Law grads pay back their student loans—include expansions to certain leaves or periods of unemployment, increases in dependent care allowance and childcare expenses, and a rise in the LIPP Participant Contribution Scale.
“The LIPP enhancements were the result of many people working together to make reasonable and sustainable changes,” Kenneth Lafler, the Law School’s assistant dean for student financial services, tells the Harvard Crimson. “The proposals ultimately suggested by the Coalition to Improve LIPP were themselves the result of a process of refinement through numerous meetings with the staff of Student Financial Services.”
The Push For Change
A number of initiatives led to the changes to be made by Harvard Law.
For one, a survey designed by the law school’s student financial services department recorded input from almost 2,000 alumni, according to Lafler.
Additionally, law students last year formed a group called The Coalition to Improve LIPP. The group released a series of proposed changes to the program, many of which Dean Manning has implemented to the program.The hope of the program, according to the school, is that it will “enable Harvard Law School JD graduates to pursue a broad range of relatively lower income employment options while maintaining the ability to repay their educational loans. Through LIPP, Harvard Law School is committed to preserving freedom of job choice within the legal profession for its graduates.”
Sources: Harvard Crimson, Harvard Law School