If you are headed into a lower-paying but meaningful career, you may have heard about programs that help repay your student loans. These are called Loan Repayment Assistance Programs, or LRAPs, and they can make a real difference — especially for lawyers, health professionals, and others who serve the public. This guide explains what LRAPs are, who offers them, and how they work alongside federal forgiveness in 2026.
What Is a Loan Repayment Assistance Program?
A Loan Repayment Assistance Program is a benefit that helps you pay back your student loans, usually in exchange for working in a specific field, location, or type of job. Instead of forgiving your loans directly, most LRAPs give you money — often as a forgivable loan or a grant — that you use to make your monthly student loan payments. As long as you keep meeting the program's requirements, you keep getting help.
LRAPs are different from federal forgiveness programs like Public Service Loan Forgiveness. Federal forgiveness erases your remaining balance after a set number of payments. An LRAP instead helps you afford the payments themselves, year by year.
Who Offers LRAPs?
LRAPs come from several different sources, and you may qualify for more than one:
- Law schools. Many law schools offer LRAPs for graduates who take lower-paying public-interest jobs, helping cover their loan payments for a number of years.
- Employers. Some hospitals, nonprofits, government agencies, and even private companies offer student loan repayment as an employee benefit.
- States. Many states run repayment programs for professionals who work in high-need areas, such as doctors, dentists, nurses, lawyers, and teachers in rural or underserved communities.
- Federal agencies. Programs like the National Health Service Corps and the federal employee student loan repayment program offer repayment help in exchange for service.
How LRAPs Work With Federal Forgiveness
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College Ave's student loan products are made available through Firstrust Bank, member FDIC, First Citizens Community Bank, member FDIC, or BTG Pactual Bank, N.A., member FDIC. All loans are subject to individual approval and adherence to underwriting guidelines. Program restrictions, other terms, and conditions apply. (1) All rates include the auto-pay discount. The 0.25% auto-pay interest rate reduction applies as long as a valid bank account is designated for required monthly payments. If a payment is returned, you will lose this benefit. Variable rates may increase after consummation. (2) As certified by your school and less any other financial aid you might receive. Minimum $1,000. (3) This informational repayment example uses typical loan terms for a freshman borrower who selects the Deferred Repayment Option with a 10-year repayment term, has a $10,000 loan that is disbursed in one disbursement and a 8.35% fixed Annual Percentage Rate (APR): 120 monthly payments of $179.18 while in the repayment period, for a total amount of payments of $21,501.54. Loans will never have a full principal and interest monthly payment of less than $50. Your actual rates and repayment terms may vary. Information advertised valid as of 6/15/2026. Variable interest rates may increase after consummation. Approved interest rate will depend on creditworthiness of the applicant(s), lowest advertised rates only available to the most creditworthy applicants and require selection of the Flat Repayment Option with the shortest available loan term.
Here is the most valuable thing to understand: in many cases, an LRAP can run at the same time as Public Service Loan Forgiveness. The LRAP gives you money to make your monthly federal loan payments, while those same payments count toward your 120 qualifying payments for PSLF. In effect, someone else is helping cover your payments while you march toward having the rest forgiven.
To make this work, you generally want to be enrolled in an income-driven repayment plan, which keeps your required monthly payment low. A low payment means the LRAP money stretches further, and it leaves a larger balance to be forgiven at the end.
What to Watch Out For
LRAPs are valuable, but read the fine print:
- Service requirements. Most programs require you to stay in a qualifying job for a set period. Leaving early can mean losing the benefit or repaying it.
- Taxes. Some LRAP payments are treated as taxable income, while others are not. Ask the program how its help is reported, and plan for any tax bill.
- Annual limits and funding. Many programs cap how much they pay per year and depend on limited funding, so approval is not guaranteed.
- Coordination rules. A few programs restrict how they combine with other benefits. Confirm the rules before you count on stacking them.
How to Find LRAPs You Qualify For
- If you attended a professional school, ask its financial aid office whether it offers an LRAP and how to apply.
- Check your state's higher education agency or professional licensing board for state repayment programs.
- Ask your employer's human resources team whether student loan repayment is an available benefit.
- For health professionals, review the National Health Service Corps and Indian Health Service programs.
- Confirm how any program coordinates with PSLF and your income-driven plan before enrolling.
The Bottom Line
Loan Repayment Assistance Programs help you afford your monthly student loan payments in exchange for service, and they are offered by law schools, employers, states, and federal agencies. Their real power shows when you combine them with an income-driven repayment plan and Public Service Loan Forgiveness: the LRAP covers your payments while you work toward having the rest of your balance forgiven. Read the service and tax rules carefully, and ask each program how it coordinates with federal forgiveness.
Trying to plan around a lower-paying but meaningful career? Create your free CollegeLens plan to see your real costs and borrowing, and file your FAFSA to unlock federal aid.
— Sravani at CollegeLens
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