Overview of Loan Repayment Program Help

The NIH Loan Repayment Programs (LRP) are a set of programs designed to recruit and retain highly qualified health professionals into biomedical or biobehavioral research careers. The escalating costs of advanced education and training in medicine and clinical specialties are forcing some scientists to abandon their research careers for higher-paying private industry or private practice careers. The LRPs counteract that financial pressure by repaying up to $50,000 annually of a researcher's qualified educational debt in return for a commitment to engage in NIH mission-relevant research.

This guide contains instructions for completing and submitting a Loan Repayment Program (LRP) application. Because the intramural (researchers employed by NIH ) and extramural (researchers not employed by NIH) LRP programs are different, there are sections for both types of help.

Extramural employed outside NIH help provides instructions for:

• The non-NIH applicant to use ASSIST to complete and submit an LRP application.

• The applicant's institutional business official (IBO) to use the IBO Portal to certify and verify the applicant.

• Mentors and referees to submit reference letters on the applicant's behalf.

See Who Participates in the Extramural LRP Application Process?

Intramural Employed inside NIH help provides instructions for:

• The NIH-employed applicant to use ASSIST to complete and submit an LRP application.

• The applicant's IC Coordinator to use the IC Coordinator Portal to certify and verify the applicant.

• Mentors and referees to submit reference letters on the applicant's behalf.

See Who Participates in the Intramural LRP Application Process?

This guide does NOT provide policy guidance or details regarding data-entry fields on the LRP application screens; for that type of guidance, see the intramural and extramural guides, which can be downloaded from this page: LRP Application Instruction Guide.

The LRP website is an excellent source of information about all aspects of the LRP program. If you are a first time visitor to the site, see First Time Visitors for a guide to relevant sections of the website based on your role.