Harvard Law Students Clamor for Aid and Public Interest Jobs, Forcing Changes
Updated: Harvard Law School has reinstated free coffee and announced stipends of $35,000 to 12 graduates working in public interest law. But in a year of tight budgets, something had to give.
Now on the chopping block: a pilot program announced last year that waived third-year tuition for students who commit to work in public interest jobs for five years after graduation, the Harvard Crimson reports.
The changes come as Harvard copes with increasing demand for need-based financial aid caused by family job losses, for funds to support students in summer public interest jobs, and for loan repayment assistance. “Everything is going up,” Alexa Shabecoff, assistant dean for public service, tells the ABA Journal.
“We’re trying to make good decisions about increasing financial aid, basically, in an equitable way so that we’re addressing the greatest need,” Shabecoff says.
Law school dean Martha Minow outlined the changes in an e-mail to students yesterday, according to the Harvard Crimson. Current students will still be able to enroll in the tuition-waiver program, called the Public Service Initiative, but incoming law students will probably not be able to participate, according to the story.
More than 110 first-year students had signed up for the program last year, double the expected amount, according to the Crimson. However, Shabecoff says there were no expectations for the program—only predictions—and the number actually participating will likely drop by the time they reach their third year of law school.
Shabecoff says the change is the result of a bad economy that is affecting the law school’s budget and driving more students to participate in aid and other programs. “I was one of the architects of the [Public Service Initiative], and I think we are doing the right thing,” Shabecoff says.
She says the school is committed to its need-based financial aid program. According to the Crimson, the school is increasing its financial aid budget by $2.7 million despite a drop in endowment investments for that purpose.
Minow’s e-mail also said the school would cut per-student funding for summer public interest work while expanding the number of students served, according to the story. Last summer, 495 students received funds in the summer public interest program, compared to 375 the previous year. The school expects more than 600 students to request funding next year. With the cuts, the school is guaranteeing pay for eight weeks of work instead of 10.
The e-mail had some good news for unemployed law grads, the story says. Those who volunteer in public interest jobs are eligible to participate. Deferred associates in public interest jobs may also take advantage of the program, if they qualify based on their loan-to-debt ratios.
Updated at 10 a.m. to include comments by Shabecoff and to correct details of the loan repayment program.
