Law Schools
Harvard to Waive 3rd Year Tuition for Students Pursuing Public Interest Careers
Posted Oct 28, 2008 10:38 AM CST
By Martha Neil
A new program at Harvard Law School that will waive third-year tuition for students who commit to five-year public interest careers is attracting more interest than expected.
More than 100 first-year students have signed up for the program, although they can still change their minds about participating, reports the Harvard Crimson. They are the first to be offered the tuition waiver, although current students who opt for public interest careers receive less generous assistance.
“We expect it to be popular among alumni, and we expect them to show their support,” said says Dean Elena Kagan of the new program. “I’m hopeful it’ll work really well, and that we’ll find whatever extra money we’ll need for it.”
Historically, about 50 to 60 graduating law students each year have opted to pursue public interest careers.
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Comments
Guestina
Oct 28, 2008 11:38 AM CST
Amazing! This is something that the rest of the Tier 1 law schools should consider to attract top students.
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JD-in-Waiting
Oct 28, 2008 11:47 AM CST
Wow. This is great. I imagine there isn’t much of an incentive to go public interest from Harvard with all of the debt accumulated and lucrative offers available.
I am a public interest student at another law school which is paying for 2 years of my tuition in exchange for a commitment to public service. I can say that the tuition assistance is a WONDERFUL incentive.
With programs like this and the full tuition assistance to low income undergrad students, Harvard is really becoming more than a dream for many.
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QJC
Oct 28, 2008 1:21 PM CST
To #2, this program is great, I agree. But, how does it make Harvard “more than a dream for many”? It doesn’t appear to lower the admission standards.
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J.D.
Oct 28, 2008 1:30 PM CST
Harvard’s website is unclear on the definition of “public interest,” but I’m sure only lefty organizations get approved.
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Alice
Oct 30, 2008 8:34 AM CST
To #3, just because someone doesn’t have enough money to attend Harvard doesn’t mean they don’t the intelligence and all the other qualifications needed to attent a top law school. OR, did you mean the admissions standards include wealth?
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Osiris Torres
Oct 31, 2008 3:40 AM CST
This is fantastic! Is it available for law students in Puerto RIco to apply? For I am interested in pursing a doctoral degree on international law.
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r
Oct 31, 2008 5:52 AM CST
Funny how you have to PAY these Harvard creeps to do anything for society. My first job out of law school in 1976 was as a legal aid attorney in Belle Glade, Florida for $10,500. I got no tuition break from my law school for doing it.. These Harvard creeps are just mercenaries who will put it on their resumes like it was a big sacrifice.
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Dan
Oct 31, 2008 6:16 AM CST
Really, with the size of their endowment, Harvard should be giving all of law school for free to anyone whose parents made less than a quarter-million dollars last year.
And how do they plan to enforce this? If you work in PI from graduation until you get licensed a few months later and then go work at Skadden, do they send you a bill for your last year or what?
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KC Partner
Oct 31, 2008 6:51 AM CST
This is superb, and I agree that other Tier 1 schools should offer the same. It realistically allows many lawyers-to-be to accept public interest jobs (which I assume includes public service). The debt load of so many young lawyers makes it cost prohibitive to take public interest jobs and get a start on even a modest “grown up” life. It is hard to ask a newly minted lawyer from a top tier school with $120k in debt to work for $50k/year and eat more Ramen noodles and beans and live in a studio apartment when they know they can make $125-150k a year if they go to a big firm in a big city (which virtually all can).
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SJ HLS 1988 grad
Oct 31, 2008 7:55 AM CST
I’ve worked in public interest law since graduating from HLS twenty years ago. Harvard’s low-income protection program paid my loans, and helped with the resulting taxes - tax laws initially considered loan forgiveness as income. Without this help, I wouldn’t have been able to work in public interest law, helping hundreds of immigrant women and children get court protection against family violence. (I was grateful both for the help and for the privilege of doing the work, rarely envying friends at firms who often struggled with assignments and colleagues they didn’t enjoy!) This new program is both good publicity for Harvard and savings for their existing program, as they won’t be paying lenders interest in addition to tuition for the third year of law school. It doesn’t do much more for graduates than HLS’s already-generous program, but may bring more public-interest-minded people to HLS.
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Retired IRS Attorney
Oct 31, 2008 7:58 AM CST
As a manager for the IRS, I offered lower pay, but weekends free, evenings free, 4 weeks vacation after 3 years, plus interesting legal challanges and responsiblity. Early in my career I dealt with the editor in chief of the law review at my alma mater who had graduated a year ahead of me. At the 2nd conference, he kept quiet & handled the exhibits, while I discussed the issue with the senior partner - taxpayer lost.
I hired some very good people for fortunately they did not have crushing student loans. I’m glad I’m not trying to hire now.
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Dan
Oct 31, 2008 8:28 AM CST
By the way, if you want to work in public interest, 3 years of a very good public school like the one I went to is less than ONE year of Harvard, let alone two or three.
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Lawyer46
Oct 31, 2008 9:26 AM CST
The waiver of third year tuition does not apply if you teach, although it does apply if you work in a political campaign. Go figure!
Also, if you don’t satisfy the term of public service (I think it is 6 years), you have to pay HLS back with above-market interestl HLS (and Yale) also has a loan foregivness program which includes college loans if you earn less than $40K a year, whether you work in the public or the private sector.
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r
Oct 31, 2008 7:39 PM CST
If Obama has his way, all 3 years at Harvard and everywhere else would be free regardless of “public service.”
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