Illinois Provides funding to loan repayment to local state and federal public defenders and local state prosecutors

In an effort to meet the increased needs of the State’s Attorney and Public Defenders offices in the State of Illinois, the Illinois Student Assistance Commission (ISAC) is providing the resources for the administration of the John R. Justice Program (JRJ). ISAC provides for the payment of eligible educational loans for state and federal public defenders and state prosecutors who agree to remain employed as public defenders and prosecutors for at least three years. The annual awards to qualified defenders and prosecutors are subject to sufficient annual appropriation by the federal government, up to an aggregate total of $60,000, to repay their student loan debt.

Illinois is following a model that centralizes the administration of the program, thereby allowing a consistent and standard approach statewide. With this model, applicants apply directly to ISAC (the governor-designated state administering agency), which decides, based on the programmatic criteria set forth by the U.S. Department of Justice and developed by an Advisory Committee, which applicants should receive funding.

Historically, the demand for the program exceeds the funding level; therefore, a formula has been designed to distribute awards to applicants with the least ability to repay their student loans within each of the five appellate districts statewide. There is an additional statewide category for prosecutors. Although the law permits an annual maximum award of $10,000, in order to serve as many recipients as possible, it was agreed by the Advisory Committee that the number of awards made through this program, as well as the individual dollar amount awarded, is subject to sufficient annual appropriation by the federal government.
ISAC works closely with the Advisory Committee to ensure that the Office of the Illinois State Appellate Defender (OSAD) can communicate to public defenders throughout local county offices and federal public defenders in the Northern and Southern districts about the JRJLRP program. The Advisory Committee also ensures that the State’s Attorney Appellate Prosecutor communicates program information to statewide and county prosecutors, including Cook County, the second-largest prosecutor's office in the country. ISAC estimates the pool of potential applications to be in the range of 3,000 to 3,500 licensed and practicing attorneys.