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John R. Justice Student Loan Repayment Program (JRJ). Heather Jarvis, Presenter. Today’s Agenda. JRJ Overview Eligible Attorneys Eligible Loans Tax issues State by State Administration Interaction with Public Service Loan Forgiveness and other Loan Repayment Assistance Programs
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John R. Justice Student Loan Repayment Program (JRJ) Heather Jarvis, Presenter
Today’s Agenda • JRJ Overview • Eligible Attorneys • Eligible Loans • Tax issues • State by State Administration • Interaction with Public Service Loan Forgiveness and other Loan Repayment Assistance Programs • Current and Future Funding
What you can expect to take away • An understanding of the basic requirements of the program • Whether your job makes you eligible to apply for assistance • Tools to figure out which of your loans are eligible • Only basic knowledge about how the program will be administered, and • No clear answers about whether you will receive an award, how much you might get, and whether it will last
JRJ Program Overview • Loan repayment assistance for state and federal public defenders and state prosecutors • Three-year service agreement • Up to $10,000 per eligible attorney per year • Lifetime maximum of $60,000 per attorney • Subject to availability of funds
Poll Are you a prosecutor or defender?
Eligible Attorneys State and federal public defenders andstate prosecutors
State and federal public defenders andstate prosecutors • Must be “continually licensed to practice law” • Must be “full-time employees”
Who’s a prosecutor? • “prosecute criminal or juvenile delinquency cases at the state or unit of local government level” • Full-time employees of a state or unit of local government (including tribal government) • Prosecutors who are employees of the federal government are not eligible
Who’s a public defender? • “provide legal representation to indigent persons in criminal or juvenile delinquency cases.” • full-time employees of a state or unit of local government (including tribal government), or • full-time employees of a nonprofit organization operating under a contract with a state or unit of local government • federal defender attorneys in a defender organization pursuant to Subsection )(g) of section 3006A of Title 18, United States Code are eligible. • Attorneys who are in private practice (and not a full-time employee of a non-profit organization) are not eligible, even if providing services under contract to the state.
Who isn’t eligible for JRJ? • Prosecutors who are employees of the federal government are not eligible. • Attorneys who are in private practice (and not a full-time employee of a non-profit organization) are not eligible, even if providing public defense services under contract to the state. • Attorneys in default on repayment of any federal student loans.
Eligible Loans Know Your Loans
Find Out What Kind of Student Loans You Have • National Student Loan Data System:http://www.nslds.ed.gov/
Eligible Loans for JRJ FFEL and Federal Direct Loans
Which loans are not eligible? • Loans that are currently in default • Parent PLUS Loans • Consolidation loans that repaid a parent PLUS Loan • Alternative or commercial student loans
Who will administer the JRJ program? • Governor-designated state agencies (or in the case of Washington, D.C., a Mayor-designated agency) • Agencies must register with OPJ’s Grants Management System (GMS) and apply by July 27, 2010 • Only agencies are eligible to apply for funding • Check your state! Has an agency registered?
How much money will be distributed? • 10 million dollars appropriated for FY 2010 • Funds will be available to states based on the total population of each state with a minimum base allocation of $100,000. Wyoming $ 100,000 Louisiana $ 127,106 New York $ 552,939 California $ 1,045,856
Poll Has your state registered a Governor selected agency?
What will the State JRJ agencies do? • conduct outreach and education about JRJ • solicit applications from eligible recipients • distribute funding equally between prosecutors and defenders within their state • give priority to those eligible attorneys who have the “least ability to repay their loans”
So how much will I get? • No more than $10,000 • Lifetime maximum of $60,000 per attorney • Subject to availability of funds • Annual federal appropriations required
Interaction of JRJ with Public Service Loan Forgiveness and other LRAPs JRJ benefits add to your income
Poll Do you know about Public Service Loan Forgiveness?
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