O'Hara on right track to aid service-minded graduates, former dean says
By ERIN LaRUFFA
Assistant News Editor
With rain running ink off their posters, a group of Notre Dame Law School students and their supporters rallied Friday outside the Main Building for loan forgiveness for graduates who pursue public service careers.
"[Law students] really want to come here to be public interest lawyers … They want to follow the words of the Pope, but they just can't afford to," third-year law student Ben Horne said to an assembled crowd.
Rudy Monterrosa, a second-year law student, led the crowd in a chant of `Harvard, Yale, NYU. Loan forgiveness — we want it too,' in reference to three leading law schools that already have loan forgiveness programs.
Monterrosa decided to attend Notre Dame Law School because of its commitment to public service, he said.
"I think what we do at Notre Dame is very important … I think we do things to help our community," he said.
Many law school graduates practice corporate law immediately after graduating as a means of paying off their debts, said Monterrosa. Some of those lawyers intend to move to public interest law once their loans are repaid, but they often become "trapped" in the lucrative corporate world.
Thomas Shaffer, a former law school dean who still works at Notre Dame's Legal Aid Clinic, spoke in support of loan forgiveness. He praised current law school dean Patricia O'Hara for her commitment to loan forgiveness.
In her first year as dean, O'Hara has made financial aid –— which includes scholarships and loan forgiveness — one of her five top priorities, according to third-year law student Marisa Salizar, who helped organize the rally. Salizar added that the University is currently seeking a donor to assist with loan forgiveness.
Rally organizers wanted the event's message to be a positive way to thank the University for recognizing the issue of loan forgiveness, Salizar said.
There are different ways for law schools to help students who intend to pursue public interest careers. One is to offer scholarships at the beginning of their three years of school.
Schools can also forgive loans. For example, one possible method involves sending a graduate a check for a certain percentage of tuition costs after each year the lawyer works in public service.
The lawyer then uses that money to pay off loans.
The problem is that the debt of some law students approaches $100,000 or more, Shaffer said. In addition, lawyers who serve Americans who can afford legal services greatly outnumber those who serve citizens who cannot, he added.
"It keeps [the poor] locked out," Shaffer said, explaining that because lawyers help in "unlocking" doors for the poor, more public interest lawyers are needed.
All News Stories for Monday, April 10, 2000
