NIH Extramural Loan Repayment Programs
10 Frequently Asked Questions

• What Extramural Loan Repayment Programs (LRPs) are offered for qualified individuals?
  
  
  • The Clinical Research Loan Repayment Program (LRP-CR), which is designed to attract highly qualified health professionals to clinical research.
    
    
  • The Pediatric Research Loan Repayment Program (PR-LRP), which is designed to attract highly qualified health professionals to pediatric research.
    
    
  • The Clinical Research LRP for Individuals from Disadvantaged Backgrounds (CR-LRP), which is designed to attract highly qualified health professionals from disadvantaged backgrounds to clinical research.
    
    
  • The Health Disparities Research Loan Repayment Program (HD-LRP), which is designed to attract highly qualified health professionals to minority health and health disparities research, for the purpose of improving minority health and reducing health disparities.
    
    
  • The Contraception and Infertility Research Loan Repayment Program (CIR-LRP), which is designed to recruit highly qualified investigators to extramural contraception and infertility research sites.
    
    
• Who is eligible to apply?
  
  General eligibility criteria require that applicants:
  
  
  • Be citizens, nationals, or permanent residents of the United States.
    
    
  • Hold a Ph.D., M.D., D.O., D.D.S., D.M.D., Pharm. D., D.P.M., D.C., N.D. , or equivalent doctoral degree from an accredited institution (a D.V.M. is also a qualifying degree for the Pediatric Research LRP).
    
    
  • Have qualifying educational debt equal to or in excess of 20 percent of the applicant's institutional base salary on the expected date of program eligibility.
    
    
  • Conduct qualifying research supported by a nonprofit foundation, nonprofit professional association, or other nonprofit institution, or a U.S. government agency (Federal, state, or local). A foundation, professional association, or institution is considered to be nonprofit if exempt from Federal tax under the provisions of Section 501 of the Internal Revenue Code (26 USC 501).
    
    
  • Agree to perform 2 years of research service in approved Pediatric Research, Clinical Research, Health Disparities Research, or Contraception and Infertility Research, depending on the Loan Repayment Program selected by the applicant. The institution at which the applicant is engaged in research must provide assurance of support through the end of the 2-year contract.
    
    
  • Agree to engage in qualified research for at least 50 percent of time (not less than 20 hours per week based on a 40 hour week). The institution at which the applicant is engaged in research must certify that the applicant will be engaged in qualifying research for 50 percent of time (not less than 20 hours per week) during the 2-year contract period.
    
    
  • Conduct research for which funding is not prohibited by Federal law, regulation or DHHS/NIH policy. Recipients who receive LRP awards must conduct research in accordance with applicable Federal, state, and local law (e.g. applicable human subject protection regulations).

  In addition, applicants for the Clinical Researcher LRP for individuals from Disadvantaged Backgrounds (CR-LRP) must: Come from a "disadvantaged background." An individual from a disadvantaged background is one who comes from a family with an annual income below an established level (current financial need alone is not sufficient).
  
  For more information, see the Eligibility Requirements section of the LRP Web site.

• Who is not eligible to apply?
  
  The following individuals are not eligible to participate in the Extramural Loan Repayment Programs:
  
  
  • Persons who are not U.S. citizens, nationals, or permanent residents.
    
    
  • Any individual who has a Federal judgment lien against their property arising from a Federal debt.
    
    
  • Any individual who owes an obligation of health professional service to the Federal Government, a State, or other entity, unless deferrals are granted for the length of their LRP service obligation.
    
    
  • Full-time employees of Federal agencies.
    
    
  • Individuals conducting research for which funding is precluded by Federal law, regulations, or DHHS/NIH policy.
    
    
  • Individuals with ineligible loans, which includes loans that have been consolidated with a loan of another individual (including spouses, children), or loans that are not educational, such as home equity loans.
    
    
  • Individuals who are not receiving qualifying research support from a nonprofit source or U.S. Government entity (Federal, State, local).
    
    
  • Individuals with insufficient educational debt relative to income (debt less than 20 percent of institutional base salary).
  For more information, see the Eligibility Requirements section of the LRP Web site.

• What is considered qualified Clinical Research?
  
  Clinical Research is patient-oriented clinical research conducted with human subjects, or research on the causes and consequences of disease in human populations involving material of human origin (such as tissue specimens and cognitive phenomena) for which an investigator or colleague directly interacts with human subjects in an outpatient or inpatient setting to clarify a problem in human physiology, pathophysiology or disease, or epidemiologic or behavioral studies, outcomes research or health services research, or developing new technologies, therapeutic interventions, or clinical trials.

• What is considered qualified Pediatric Research?
  
  Pediatric Research is that which is directly related to diseases, disorders, and other conditions in children.
• How much are the repayment benefits? How long are they available?
  
  The LRPs can repay up to $35,000 annually toward the outstanding eligible educational debt of LRP participants, depending on the total eligible debt of the participant. In return, LRP participants must sign a contract agreeing to conduct qualifying research activities for a 2-year consecutive period. Participants may competitively apply for 1-year renewal contracts and receive additional loan repayment benefits. The actual annual amount repaid depends on the total eligible repayable debt. To estimate how much you can have repaid, depending on your debt, see Extramural Appendix III of the LRP Website.
• What loans qualify for repayment? What loans are ineligible?
  
  The LRP will repay lenders directly for the extant principal and capitalized interest, interest that accrues during the LRP Contract, and related expenses of qualified U.S. Government (Federal, State, local) and commercial educational loans obtained for undergraduate, graduate, and health professional school expenses.
  
  Ineligible loans include those consolidated with another individual (including spouses, children, etc.), loans not in a current pay status, loans obtained after an LRP contract has been signed by the NIH, or noneducational loans, such as home equity loans. In addition, the NIH will not repay penalty, late, or delinquency fees or extraordinary interest incurred due to the lateness of prior payments.
  
  For more information on eligible and ineligible loans, see the Loan Information section of the LRP Web site.
• Are the loan repayment benefits taxable?
  
  Loan repayment benefits represent taxable income for LRP participants. Concurrent with each loan repayment, the LRP makes payments for direct credit to the participants' IRS tax account (Federal tax) at the rate of 39 percent of the loan repayments.
  
  For more information on tax reimbursements, see Extramural Appendix II of the LRP Web site.
• How can I apply for the LRP? How is the application processed? How will selections be made?
  
  Applications are submitted electronically via the LRP Website and must be submitted to the LRP prior to the next deadline date. Applications for the NIH Extramural Loan Repayment Programs are located at the LRP Web site . Applications that satisfy the basic eligibility criteria are forwarded to NIH Center for Scientific Review for a determination on which NIH Institute or Center (IC) will review, score and rank the application. This is a competitive review - there is no guarantee of funding for individuals who submit an application. Assurances of funding cannot be made by anyone other than an authorized representative of the Secretary, HHS. For more information on theExtramural Loan Repayment Programs, please see the LRP Web site at www.lrp.nih.gov.

• Where can I get more information?
  
  For an online application, deadline dates, or other assistance, visit our Web site at www.lrp.nih.gov, or telephone our helpline at 866-849-4047.
  
  NIH Loan Repayment Programs
  6011 Executive Boulevard, Room 206, MSC 7650
  Bethesda, Maryland 20892-7650
  
  Internet site: www.lrp.nih.gov
  
  Helpline: 866-849-4047