Harvard Law Will Waive Tuition for 3Ls Planning Public Service
At Harvard Law School, third-year students can attend the third year of law school for free—a savings of more than $40,000—if they pledge to work for five years with the government or a nonprofit organization.
Law school dean Elena Kagan told the New York Times the new waiver program is aimed at the growing problem of law school debt, which discourages grads from pursuing lower-paying public interest jobs. In 2006, the average debt was $54,509 for law graduates of public schools and $83,181 for those who attended private schools.
“We know that debt is a big issue,” Kagan told the newspaper. “We have tried to address that over the years with a very generous loan forgiveness program, but we started to think that we could do better.”
Grads who participate in the tuition waiver program, estimated to cost Harvard an average of $3 million a year, can also take advantage of loan forgiveness.
The law school will be tracking students’ careers. If grads don’t carry out their five-year public interest commitment, “then we’re going to ask for the money back,” Kagan said.
