NIH Loan Repayment Programs

The National Institutes of Health (NIH) will repay your outstanding student loans through its extramural Loan Repayment Programs (LRPs) if you are or will be conducting nonprofit biomedical or behavioral research and meet eligibility requirements. The application cycle for the extramural LRPs opens September 1 and includes programs for Clinical Research, Pediatric Research, Health Disparities Research, Contraception and Infertility Research, and Clinical Research for Individuals from Disadvantaged Backgrounds. Applications will be accepted online until 8:00 PM on November 15, 2010 at www.lrp.nih.gov.

BENEFITS: New LRP contracts are awarded for a two-year period and repay up to $35,000 of qualified educational debt annually. Tax offsets also are provided as an additional benefit. Participants may apply for competitive renewals which are issued for one or two years. Undergraduate, graduate, medical school, and other health professional school loans qualify for repayment. An NIH grant or other NIH funding is not required to apply for or participate in the LRPs.

ELIGIBILITY: Applicants must possess a doctoral-level degree (except for the Contraception and Infertility Research LRP); be a U.S. citizen or permanent resident; devote 20 hours or more per week to conducting qualified research funded by a university, nonprofit organization, or federal, state, or local government entity; and have qualified educational loan debt equal to or exceeding 20 percent of their institutional base salary.

QUESTIONS? Visit the LRP website at www.lrp.nih.gov for more information and to access the online application. For additional assistance, call or e-mail the DLR Information Center at (866) 849-4047 or lrp@nih.gov. More information is also available at http://grants.nih.gov/grants/guide/notice-files/NOT-OD-10-105.html

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