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Loan Repayment Assistance Program “It effectively is a program that works to provide support for repayment of loans” - Anthony E. Jones, Vice President of Enrollment By Pablo Pinerio ppineiro@my.loyno.edu

Loyola’s partnership with the Loan Repayment Assistance Program high-

lights its commitment to Jesuit values, says Vice President of Enrollment Anthony Jones. Loyola is expected to send an email in the following weeks with instructions on how to register for the Loan Repayment Assistance Program, which aims to alleviate concerns for students and their families about repaying student loans. Jones described this program as a method of supporting students who are repaying their loans. “It effectively is a program that works to provide support for repayment of loans… on behalf of students who make $50,000 or less once they graduate from Loyola,” Jones said. The program is entering its second year at the university, and began offering awards at Loyola for students entering in the fall of 2024. “It’s an effort on [the] part of the uni-

versity to really dive deeper into this affordability conversation that families are having,” Jones said. If a student was not offered the LRAP as they applied to Loyola, they can still pay a monthly fee while attending college in order to be part of the program. “Think of it like an insurance premium. That’s how much the family would pay each month to get this protection once they graduate; this ability to have their loans repaid,” Jones said. Jones talked about what will be done in the near future in order to help Loyola students register for the program and raise awareness about it in the Loyola community. “Our plan is to send out an email message that has instructions on what students can do,” Jones said. That campus wide email, he said, will be sent during the following weeks.

JSRI GRANT pg. 4

By Makyala Parker maparke1@my.loyno.edu

According to Jones, the program was started at Yale Law School in 1989 to encourage students to pursue careers that they truly desired following graduation. “[Yale] realized that they weren’t really doing a good job of attracting individuals who wanted to study law and then go practice law in indigent communities. And frankly, that was because the cost of law school was just so astronomical, their graduates felt compelled to go to high priced law firms just to make enough money to be able to pay back the law school [expenses],” he said.

PAUL WARE pg. 9

Jones believes that this kind of program is an example of Loyola living up to its Jesuit values, which have historically included things like social justice, solidarity, and serving others. “This is just in line with who we are as a Jesuit institution. I can’t speak for why other schools do it, but it was certainly why it was attractive to us: To help students with that kind of assurance, especially those that have that servant heart to do good on behalf of others and don’t want to have to sacrifice that because of the cost of their education,” he said. Jones emphasized the positive ef-

fects that having one’s loans repaid could have on students. “I would think that that would allow them to take more risk, give them a greater sense that they’re going to have an ability to make it once they graduate,” Jones said.

FIRST GEN pg.14