Congress appropriated $1 million for LSC's pilot loan repayment assistance program. The goals of the program are to help LSC-funded programs recruit and retain highly-qualified attorneys, and spur development of more such programs. The need is clear.

Low-paid legal aid lawyers often have large, outstanding law school loans.

• Legal aid lawyers are not only among the lowest-paid members of the legal profession, they earn less than public defenders.
• The average participant in LSC's pilot loan repayment assistance program earns $32,000 per year.
• Program participants must repay education loans ranging from $26,000 to $138,000; the median is $70,000.

LSC's pilot program provides up to $15,000 per attorney.

• Seventy attorneys are participating in the pilot program.
• All participants had been legal aid lawyers for less than three years when the pilot program started.
• Each participant receives up to $5,000 per year for three years-a maximum of $15,000.
• Participants must make a three-year commitment to an LSC-funded program or repay LSC.

Preliminary data show the program is meeting its goals.

• More than 90 percent of the participants say financial pressure is a "significant" or "very significant" reason they would leave their jobs as legal aid lawyers.
• Two-thirds of the participants say loan repayment assistance makes it "significantly" or "very significantly" more likely that they will stay in their jobs.
• Two-thirds of the participants report that loan repayment assistance has "significantly improved" their financial situation or quality of life.

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