University President Lawrence Bacow has announced the official launch of the university-wide Loan Repayment Assistance Program (LRAP), a pioneering system that will help alumni who take jobs in the non-profit or public sector pay back their student loans.
"It is especially appropriate for Tufts to make this commitment, since as an institution we seek to encourage a spirit of public service in our students," Bacow said on Tuesday in an e-mail to the Tufts community.
Tufts is aiming to make it easier for alumni to enter the non-profit or public sphere, even without comfortable financial cushions. Professions of this sort typically offer lower salaries.
"Career and job choices can be distorted by those financial realities," said Rob Hollister, the dean of the Jonathan M. Tisch College of Citizenship and Public Service, which will run the LRAP.
Bacow and Provost Jamshed Bharucha envisioned the program after Pierre and Pam Omidyar (LA '88 and J '89, respectively) gave Tufts $100 million to launch the Omidyar-Tufts Microfinance Fund. The university is using the interest from the fund to pay for its LRAP.
Graduates of any Tufts school who work at a nonprofit or in the public sector can now apply for loan repayment. Applications are due Sept. 1. Tufts will give away $500,000 in loan repayment this year.
"We'll coordinate with all the schools on campus when it's time to make the decision of who's going to receive the awards," said Patricia Reilly, director of financial aid. "We have not yet decided how that's going to be split. That's going to depend on the number of applications we get and the need of the applications."
The administration believes Tufts' LRAP to be the world's first program of its kind to be implemented on such a large scale. "Lots of law schools have very effective LRAPs, the Fletcher School had a very positive experience with an LRAP for five years," Hollister said. Tufts' new program "seems to be the first really university-wide effort that has this strategy."
