Legal Aid Leaders Embrace Financial Relief and Service
By Dee Baskin, Executive Director, Loan Repayment Assistance Program of Minnesota, and Heather Vlieger, Grants Manager for Mid-Minnesota Legal Aid
The College Cost Reduction and Access Act, including Public Service Loan Forgiveness (PSLF), was passed in 2007 with bipartisan support. Under PSLF, borrowers making 120 income-driven payments while working full-time in public service are eligible to
have the remaining principal and interest forgiven on their federal direct student loans. Congress designed PSLF to encourage public interest careers. Congress was especially concerned that staggering student debt would force borrowers wanting to
pursue public service to forego these critical community roles because of lower pay.
Four legal aid leaders serving Hennepin County recently received Public Service Loan Forgiveness. Here, they share their journeys as dedicated legal aid attorneys repaying their school loans.
Anna Beadle is the executive director of Minnesota Justice Foundation (MJF), which creates opportunities for law students to engage in public interest and pro bono legal service and increases the capacity of legal organizations that serve
the public interest. Anna has worked in pro bono programs for the last 14 years at Children’s Law Center of Minnesota and MJF.
Dan Morris is the executive director of Central Minnesota Legal Services (CMLS), which provides civil legal services to low-income people in 21 counties in Central Minnesota. Dan said the seed of a legal aid career was planted in law
school when he was an MJF volunteer. After law school he worked as a Judicial Clerk, as an attorney for the White Earth Nation and Anishinabe Legal Services, and in multiple leadership roles at Mid-Minnesota Legal Aid-Willmar and CMLS.
Luke Grundman is the litigation director of Mid-Minnesota Legal Aid (MMLA), a legal services, impact litigation and policy advocacy organization serving people with low incomes, disabilities and those over 60 years of age. Luke joined
MMLA in law school, completing over 1000 MJF hours by the time he graduated. He has spent the last 14 years at MMLA as an attorney in various units and in multiple leadership roles.
Sarah Brenes is the executive director of the Binger Center for New Americans at the University of Minnesota Law School, which works with law students, nonprofits and law firm partners to expand urgently needed legal services for noncitizens,
pursue litigation to improve our nation’s immigration laws and support noncitizens in the region through education and community outreach. Prior to law school, Sarah worked for Southern Minnesota Regional Legal Services’ Agricultural Worker
Project. During law school, she did MJF clerkships at the Immigrant Law Center of Minnesota and now dissolved Centro Legal. She spent three years as a fellow with the immigration clinic at the University of St. Thomas Law School and over a decade
in attorney and leadership roles for the Advocates for Human Rights before joining the Binger Center.
It can be challenging for legal aid attorneys to manage household finances while making 120- or 10-years’ worth of student loan payments while working toward PSLF, even when payment amounts are based on their relatively low legal aid salaries. According
to the recent American Bar Association survey, among lawyers with student loans over $200,000, a reported 84% felt high or overwhelming stress over personal finances and 79% worried about meeting normal monthly expenses sometimes or all the time.1
Dan described a time his family needed to rework their budget to purchase a more reliable vehicle after Dan’s car broke down several times while driving throughout CMLS’s vast rural service area. Anna pointed out that it’s difficult
to save for emergencies, retirement, and a down payment on a house when student loan payments mean you can only meet your monthly expenses.
The decade long repayment process is also a source of stress. Plus, legal aid attorneys feel this financial stress, Sarah observed, “while riding the roller coaster of vicarious trauma and working with clients who have experienced trauma.”
A legal aid attorney’s stress is further compounded by a growing loan balance, as income-driven repayment amounts fail to cover even the accruing interest.
All agree they wouldn’t have been successful in their repayment journey without help from the Loan Repayment Assistance Program of Minnesota (LRAP), a nonprofit that helps
legal aid attorneys make their student loan payments and achieve student loan forgiveness. With LRAP and the promise of student loan forgiveness, Luke said he was able to set up automatic payments and put his student debt to the back of his mind during
his 10 years of repayment.
Eventually, these legal aid leaders each received loan forgiveness, cementing their legal aid careers and providing life altering results. Having $200,000 or more forgiven, they join public servants nationally who have had a total of $68 billion in student
loans forgiven through PSLF.2
Dan described a feeling of weightlessness with the burden of student loans no longer a “looming cloud.” The others reiterated the relief that PSLF brings and expressed gratitude for being able to continue the work they love helping people
in need without the constant worry of financial strain.
Luke, for instance, has recently been advocating on behalf of the more than 10,000 Minnesotans experiencing homelessness. He joins a team of advocates representing people in a class action lawsuit who had their personal belongings thrown away during forcible
closures of homeless encampments. And in light of the US Supreme Court’s recent decision in City of Grants Pass v. Johnson, Luke has expanded his work to educate the public and policy makers about the harms of criminalizing homelessness. Luke
said, "No one wants people living outside. But we cannot punish people for living outside when they have nowhere else to go. We cannot seek only to sweep the problem into someone else's community. Homelessness is not an inevitability. It can be solved.
But only if we have the courage to look at it directly—not send police officers to hide it away."
Receiving loan forgiveness has been transformative for these legal aid attorneys, offering not just financial relief but also the freedom to fully dedicate themselves to their vital work.
Five Easy Steps for Public Service Loan Forgiveness
1. Make the right kind of payment: Income-driven repayment
2. On the right kind of loan: Federal Direct loans ONLY. Avoid refinancing your student loans with a private company to preserve your access to PSLF and other federal protections.
3. While you are in the right kind of job: Full-time paid work for a government or a 501(c)(3), plus certain other positions
4. Repeat 120 times: Once a month for ten years (does not need to be consecutive)
5. And prove it: Submit forms annually to the Department of Education. Maintain your own detailed records.
Credit to: Heather Jarvis | Student Loan Expert (askheatherjarvis.com)
Notes
1. Debra Cassens-Weiss, Stressed and depressed, only 34% of young lawyers with highest student debt say J.D. was worth the cost, ABA JOURNAL, September 4, 2024. View online
2. Press Release from U.S. Department of Education, Biden-Harris Administration Announces Additional $7.7 Billion in Approved Student Debt Relief for 160,000 Borrowers. (May 22, 2024). View online