Should I refinance my law school loans?

Only if you are not in public service and will not be, your loans carry a 2022-23 or later rate, a lender offers a fixed rate at least a full point below your federal rate after the 1 point auto pay reduction, and the payment stays under about 15 percent of your gross income. Public interest lawyers should keep every federal loan for PSLF, and lawyers near the median salary usually cannot carry a ten-year private payment at all.

Do public defenders and legal aid lawyers qualify for PSLF?

Generally yes. Government agencies, courts and nonprofit legal organizations are qualifying employers, so payments made under the Repayment Assistance Plan count toward the 120 needed for forgiveness. Refinancing a federal loan ends that eligibility permanently.

What does a lawyer pay under the Repayment Assistance Plan?

The annual payment is 1 to 10 percent of adjusted gross income by bracket, divided by twelve, less $50 a month per dependent. At $65,000 that is about $325 a month; at $95,000, about $713; at $230,000, about $1,917. Interest the payment does not cover is waived, and any balance left after 360 qualifying payments is forgiven.

When does refinancing beat RAP for a lawyer?

At large-firm income with no public service plans. On $150,000 at 8.07 percent, RAP at $230,000 of income costs about $63,700 in interest over nine years; a 5.5 percent ten-year refinance costs about $45,300 and a seven-year refinance about $31,100. Near the median lawyer salary the refinance payment is too large a share of income, and RAP is the better product.

Can I refinance federal law school loans back into federal loans later?

No. Refinancing moves the debt to a private lender permanently. Federal consolidation is only available for federal loans, and a refinanced loan is no longer federal.

Should I refinance my private law school loans?

Usually yes, once your income is settled and a lender offers a lower rate. Private loans carry no federal protections, so refinancing them gives up nothing but the old rate. Compare fixed rates for the same term from at least two lenders and check the new lender's hardship policy before you sign.

Refinance Law School Loans: PSLF, RAP or Refinance?

Law school debt splits into two very different problems depending on where you practice. An associate at a large firm earning $230,000 can clear $150,000 of loans in ten years and usually saves money by refinancing. A public defender, prosecutor or legal aid lawyer earning $65,000 has Public Service Loan Forgiveness and the Repayment Assistance Plan, and refinancing would throw both away. The lawyer in the middle, at the profession's median salary, often cannot afford a ten-year private payment at all. This guide works through all three, with the numbers.

The one-sentence version

Refinance law school loans only if you are not in public service and never will be, your income carries a ten-year payment comfortably, and a lender offers a fixed rate at least a full point below your federal rate after the auto pay reduction; everyone else keeps the federal loan.

What you are starting with

Federal graduate loans first disbursed in 2026-27 carry 8.07 percent (Direct Unsubsidized) and 9.07 percent (Grad PLUS, for borrowers still eligible under the grandfathering rules). Earlier loans keep their own year's rate: graduate Direct Unsubsidized loans ran 7.94 percent in 2025-26, 8.08 percent in 2024-25, 7.05 percent in 2023-24, 6.54 percent in 2022-23, and 5.28 and 4.30 percent in the two years before that, according to Federal Student Aid's rate history, with Grad PLUS one point higher each year. Private refinance pricing depends on your credit, income and term: in the second week of November 2026, lenders' published fixed ranges started a little above 4 percent for the strongest applicants and ran past 11 percent for borrowers who barely qualified.

Grad PLUS ended for new borrowers on July 1, 2026. Law is on Federal Student Aid's interim professional-degree list, so students who began borrowing after that date can take up to $50,000 a year and $200,000 in total in federal loans, with the designation still subject to litigation. Our guide to law school loans covers the borrowing side and the private lenders that fill the gap; this guide covers what to do with the loans you already have.

Three lawyers, three answers

The public interest lawyer: keep every federal loan

Government and nonprofit legal employers qualify for Public Service Loan Forgiveness: district attorney and public defender offices, legal aid organizations, state and federal agencies, and the courts. Payments under RAP count toward the 120 needed, and RAP keeps those payments small. A lawyer earning $65,000 pays about $325 a month regardless of balance; the interest that payment does not cover is waived rather than added to the balance. After ten years of qualifying payments the remaining balance is forgiven, and PSLF discharges are not taxed as income under federal law. Federal Student Aid's report for August 2026 shows about 1.29 million borrowers with $96.4 billion discharged through PSLF and its related waivers. Many law schools also run loan repayment assistance programs for public interest graduates; those programs usually assume the federal loan stays federal. A refinanced loan can never qualify for PSLF, and the payments already counted on it stop counting.

The lawyer at the median: RAP is the plan, not the fallback

The median lawyer salary sits around $95,000, and the average law graduate carries $130,000 to $160,000 in loans. Take $150,000 at 8.07 percent. A ten-year private refinance at 5.5 percent costs about $1,628 a month, which is about 21 percent of a $95,000 gross income: Heavy on the CollegeLens affordability scale, and a payment with no income-driven fallback if the job changes. Under RAP the same lawyer pays 9 percent of income, about $713 a month. That is less than the roughly $1,009 of monthly interest, so the balance does not fall much, but the uncovered interest is waived rather than capitalized, and whatever remains is forgiven after 360 qualifying payments. For this borrower the federal loan is the only product with a payment that fits, and refinancing private loans is the only refinancing worth doing. As income rises, the RAP payment rises with it, and the decision can be revisited.

The large-firm associate: run the numbers

At $230,000 of adjusted gross income the RAP bracket is 10 percent, about $1,917 a month. On $150,000 at 8.07 percent that payment clears the loan in a little over nine years and costs about $63,700 in interest. The same balance refinanced at 5.5 percent over ten years costs about $1,628 a month and $45,300 in interest; over seven years, about $2,156 a month and $31,100. Against the federal rate after the auto pay reduction, 7.07 percent on a ten-year schedule ($1,747 a month and $59,600 in interest), the 5.5 percent refinance saves about $14,000. For an associate with no public service plans, strong credit and a payment under 10 percent of income, refinancing usually wins, and a shorter term wins by more. The caution is the career path: an associate who later moves to a government or nonprofit role has given up PSLF for good, and large-firm attrition is high.

Whatever you decide, enroll federal loans in auto pay first. Direct Loan borrowers on auto pay get a full percentage point off from July 1, 2026 through June 30, 2028, and the Department of Education extended enrollment to December 31, 2026. That turns 8.07 percent into 7.07 percent, which is the rate any refinance offer has to beat.

Who should run the numbers

Refinancing law school loans can make sense when all of these are true:

You are not pursuing PSLF, and your likely next job is not a qualifying employer either.
Your loans carry a 2022-23 or later rate (6.54 to 9.08 percent for graduate loans). A 2020-21 or 2021-22 loan at 4.30 or 5.28 percent is almost never worth refinancing.
A lender offers you a fixed rate at least a full point below your federal rate after the auto pay reduction.
The new payment is under 10 to 15 percent of your gross income, and you have savings to cover it if your income stopped.

Our refinance calculator runs the comparison for your own balance, rate and term, and asks you to confirm the federal trade-offs before it shows a result.

The middle path

Refinance private loans first. Private loans carry no federal protections, so refinancing them to a lower rate once your income is settled gives up nothing but the old rate. Our guide to when to refinance a private student loan covers the timing.
Refinance only the highest-rate federal loans. A borrower holding a 5.28 percent 2021-22 loan and a 9.08 percent 2024-25 Grad PLUS loan can refinance the second and keep the first federal. Lenders will usually refinance a subset of your loans.
Prequalify before deciding. Most lenders show a rate estimate with a soft credit check that does not affect your score; the hard inquiry usually comes only when you accept an offer.

A checklist before you sign

List each loan with its disbursement year, rate and balance, and mark any loan with PSLF payments counted toward it. Those stay federal.
Enroll in auto pay and recompute each federal rate one point lower.
Prequalify with at least two lenders for the same term and compare fixed rates.
Run the new payment against your gross income. Under 10 percent is Comfortable, 10 to 15 percent is Manageable, and over 15 percent is a reason to stop.
Refinance private loans first, then only the federal loans whose rate the private offer beats by at least a full point after the auto pay reduction.
Keep the payoff letters. Once the private lender pays the federal loan, the decision cannot be reversed.

The bottom line

Law school loans reward matching the repayment plan to the career. Public interest lawyers keep every federal loan and let PSLF do the work. Lawyers near the median income keep the federal loan because RAP is the only payment that fits, and refinance only their private loans. Large-firm associates with no public service plans and strong credit usually save by refinancing at a point or more below the federal rate after auto pay, on the shortest term they can carry. The federal refinancing guide covers the same decision for every borrower, and the refinance hub gathers the calculator and every guide in one place.

Sravani at CollegeLens

Refinancing Law School Loans: Public Interest, the Median Lawyer and the Large-Firm Associate