Fellowships and Loan Repayment Assistance
Summer Funding
Many GW Law students choose to perform public interest legal work during the summer. In order to make this choice more financially feasible, the Law School and other organizations provide summer subsidies.
GW Law awards approximately $295,000 in the form of cash grants and tuition remission to law students who will engage in summer public interest work. Students are able to submit applications for the subsidies after receiving an offer of summer employment from a non-profit or government employer. Awardees can serve in organizations in Washington, DC, as well as around the country and abroad. Students who receive one of these stipends may also be able to receive academic credit for their public interest work through the law school's Field Placement Program.
In addition, the law school's student-run Equal Justice Foundation (EJF) holds an auction each spring that funds summer public interest grants. Applications for summer EJF grants are available early in the spring semester. Applications are due in early April following the auction.
Sources outside GW Law provide funding as well. These funding sources have deadlines throughout the spring semester. If you have questions, contact the Career Development Office's Public Interest Advisor, Siobhan Madison at [email protected].
Third-Year Fellowships
GW Law's J.B. and Maurice C. Shapiro Public Service Fellowship Program annually provides financial aid for third-year students (and evening students who have completed at least 56 credits) who agree to work 20 hours per week at public interest organizations in the Washington, DC area during the fall and spring semesters.
Awardees may receive as much as $7,500 in tuition remission. Preference is given to employers who represent, directly or indirectly, indigent individuals or populations, interests that would not otherwise be adequately represented, and environmental organizations. Awardees may not receive academic credit under this program. Further information is available through the Career Development Office.
Loan Repayment Assistance Program
The George Washington University Law School Loan Repayment Assistance Program (LRAP) provides limited financial assistance to GW Law graduates who have taken out law school loans to help pay the costs of a JD degree and who are employed in qualifying law-related public interest or public service positions. For those who are eligible, LRAP will repay to the graduate an amount not to exceed the annual amount that the graduate pays on interest and principal for those loans.
The GW LRAP is funded and operated through the GW Law and should not be confused with the Federal Public Service Loan Forgiveness Program (PSLF) or other Income-Based Repayment (IBR) plans coordinated through the US Department of Education.
View More Information on Federal Repayment Plan Options
Determination of individual GW LRAP award amounts depends on the availability of GW Law funding to the LRAP each year. Applicants must apply each year for a new LRAP award, and eligibility criteria and award amounts are subject to change. LRAP awards may only assist with law school debts associated with a GW Law degree; undergraduate debts or debts from other graduate programs are not eligible.
Details regarding the 2024-2025 LRAP Program and Application Process are described in the documents below. The 2024-2025 LRAP Application became available on September 1, 2024 and was due on October 11, 2024 (although the Program Information pdf reads September 30).
For inquiries regarding LRAP funding, please email [email protected]. If you request a return phone call, please indicate the best time and best phone number for reaching you.