Financial Support

Northwestern Pritzker Law through the Public Interest Center offers public interest students an array of financial support opportunities throughout their time as students and post-graduation. Please visit these financial support pages to learn about generous public interest summer funding, summer fellowships, post-graduate fellowships, the Loan Repayment Assistance Program (LRAP), and full-tuition scholarships.

Public Interest Post-Graduate Fellowships

The Law School recognizes that although the need for public interest lawyers is strong, many organizations lack the funding to offer entry-level opportunities. The post-graduate fellowships (pdf) launch public interest careers of dedicated graduates by providing a $50,000 salary and health care benefits to work for one year as a lawyer at a domestic nonprofit or government agency of the graduate’s choice. After a year as a fellow, recipients gain the experience needed to be hired for competitive public interest positions. Each year five to eight graduating students are awarded the fellowship through a competitive process. To date over 36 graduates have received the fellowship and are employed in public interest agencies across the country. 

Loan Repayment Assistance Program

The Law School has a robust Loan Repayment Assistance Program (LRAP) that dovetails with federal income-driven repayment programs and the federal Public Service Loan Forgiveness (PSLF) program. Northwestern's LRAP program provides funding for up to ten years for graduates to use to repay their law school loans. Many Northwestern Law graduates who remain in public service for ten years do not use any of their own funds for federal educational debt repayment. For more information about LRAP, please email emily.powers@law.northwestern.edu.

Dawn Clark Netsch Public Interest Scholarship

Each year the law school awards one scholarship for full tuition to a student who demonstrates a strong commitment to public interest. The scholarship is in honor of our late graduate and faculty member Dawn Clark Netsch and is funded by a generous gift from her estate.