FY 2015 John R. Justice Grant Program Fact Sheet
Program Background
The Pennsylvania Commission on Crime and
Delinquency (PCCD), the state administering agency for federal criminal,
juvenile and victim services funding, applied for and will administer the John
R. Justice (JRJ) Loan Repayment program.
In order to ensure that Pennsylvania’s program
meets federal guidelines, provides loan relief and promotes employee retention,
PCCD utilized a workgroup consisting of statewide prosecutorial and defender
associations to assist the agency in its efforts to create program requirements
and guidelines.
This solicitation will provide law school
loan debt relief to full-time county and federal public defenders and
district attorneys that are determined to have the least
ability to repay their loans.
Pennsylvania, as prescribed by the JRJ
guidelines, will equally share our allocation between prosecutors and
defenders.
As prescribed by federal JRJ requirements, we
have incorporated geographical dispersion into our plan. Pennsylvania’s 67
counties are grouped by population ranges through Class of County designations factoring
in the number of prosecutors and defenders employed in these classes of county.
PCCD will utilize a two-stage application
process. Potential applicants will first fill out the online pre-application
form to determine eligibility and provide PCCD with a pool of qualified
applicants.
** A link to the online form and the pre-application worksheet is
provided at the end of these instructions for your convenience. **
From this pool, PCCD will select public
defenders and district attorneys to receive awards who demonstrate the greatest
need. The selected individuals will then be asked to complete a formal
application to include income verification, school loan verification and a John
R. Justice Student Loan Repayment Program Service Agreement.
The Pennsylvania Higher Education Assistance
Agency (PHEAA) has been retained to administer loan repayment matters and will
work directly with the appropriate lending institutions to make these loan
payments.
Once preliminary selections are finalized, these
individuals will be mailed a formal application packet (including Appendix A
from the JRJ solicitation) to complete and return along with required documents
(i.e. 2014 Federal Tax Return, education loan documentation, proof of
employment, etc.). A copy will be retained by PCCD, with a copy forwarded to
PHEAA for verification. If all the required documentation is received and PHEAA’s
requirements are met, PCCD will instruct PHEAA to execute and maintain loan
forgiveness processes with the relevant loan institution.
Eligibility Requirements
Pennsylvania’s JRJ program is designed to
prioritize selection of individuals who have the least ability to repay their
qualifying law school loans. We will consider individuals who are employed
within Pennsylvania as full time Public Defenders and District Attorneys.
Selected recipients will agree to provide three additional years of employment
or must repay the entire loan forgiveness amount, if the continued employment
requirement is not met. We will follow the specific loan
eligibility/ineligibility as prescribed in the federal JRJ requirements such
as:
NOTE: Under federal JRJ program guidelines, PCCD must give
preference to those who have previously received JRJ awards.
Eligible Loans
a. A loan made, insured or guaranteed under part B
of subchapter IV of Chapter 28 of Title 20 (Federal Family Education Loan
Program)
b. A loan made under Part C or D of subchapter IV
of Chapter 28 of Title 20 (William D. Ford Federal Direct Loan and Federal
Perkins Loans);
c. A loan made under section 1078-3 or 1087e (g) of
Title 20 (Federal Consolidation loans and Federal Direct Consolidation loans,
respectively).
Ineligible Loans
a. A loan made to the parents of a dependent student under section 428B of the Higher Education Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 1078-2).
b. A Federal Direct PLUS Loan made to the parents of a dependent student.
c. A loan made under section 428C or 455 (g) of the higher Education Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 1078-3 (Federal consolidation loans) and 1087e (g) (Federal Direct Consolidation loans) to the extent that such loan was used to repay a loan described in clause (1) or (2).
We are targeting individuals that have completed
at least one year of full-time employment and are limiting eligibility to those
with no more than five years of full-time employment. In addition, an attorney
may not be in default on repayment of any federal student loans.
NOTE: Once you start the online application process, you will need to
finish it. You will not be able to save your information and complete it at a
later time. Because of that fact, we strongly encourage you to download
and complete the JRJ Loan Program pre-application worksheet BEFORE
starting your pre-application online.
Be sure you have the following information at
hand before beginning the pre-application process:
1. The Source of your 2014 Federal Taxable Income
(Form 1040, 1040A, 1040EZ)
2. Your Federal Taxable Income Amount
a. Line 43, Form 1040
b. Line 27, Form 1040A
c. Line 6, Form 1040EZ
3. Use this link to download the pre-application worksheet.
4. Use this link to access the online JRJ Loan Repayment
pre-application.
The application is now closed.
Contact Information
Jackie Weaknecht
Pennsylvania Commission on Crime and Delinquency
jweaknecht@pa.gov
717-265-8498