Gov leaves out atty student loan relief from budget
/
Governor Kathy Hochul did not include funding that would have expanded student loan relief for attorneys who work with low income clients or in district attorneys’ offices, despite calls from dozens of members of the state legislature and district attorneys to do so. Photo by Darren McGee/Office of Governor Kathy Hochul
By Noah Powelson
A month ago, nearly 40 district attorneys and legal aid firms signed an open letter to the governor asking her to allocate $4 million for the expansion of a student loan forgiveness program for attorneys. And last week, nearly 70 state senators and assemblymembers added their voices to the call to help aid the state’s overburdened justice system.
But despite widespread support from lawmakers, district attorneys and public defenders alike, Governor Kathy Hochul did not allocate the $4 million in her recently released Executive Budget Proposal needed to enable legislation that would expand the District Attorney and Indigent Legal Service Attorney Loan Forgiveness program.
DALF is a student loan relief program through the Higher Education Services Corporation available to attorneys who work with low income and indigent clients or who work in district attorneys’ offices.
The award given by the program hasn’t seen any adjustments since it was created in 2009. As such, elected officials, DAs and public defense groups say DALF no longer provides adequate relief for public sector attorneys who almost always make less than private attorneys.
“Our members are the backbone of New York’s court system,” Lisa Ohta, the president of the Association of Association of Legal Advocates and Attorneys, said in a statement on Wednesday following the release of the governor’s Fiscal Year 2026 budget proposal on Tuesday.
“For our public interest attorneys, programs like HESC DALF are a shield against our state’s affordability crisis” Ohta added. “Governor Hochul must rectify this mistake and include it in the executive budget or she will be pushing our members out of public service. Right now the choice is hers, her entire budget is centered around affordability, our members will remember if she decided to make New York more affordable for them, or if she single handedly made the crisis worse.”
Currently, DALF benefits are capped at $3,400 in loan forgiveness per year with six years of eligibility per law school graduate. In total, graduates can be rewarded as much as $20,400 in debt forgiveness.
Legislation introduced last year by New York State Senator Jessica Ramos would have increased DALF aid by 200 percent, from $3,400 to $8,000 annually for up to eight years, or for a total award eligibility of up to $64,000. To enable the legislation, Ramos and her supporters proposed a $4 million increase in DALF program funding.
In a letter to Hochuul led by Ramos earlier this month, lawmakers said the legislation and it’s funding are necessary to correct the fact that “public sector salaries have failed to keep pace with the rising cost of living, particularly with the increasing costs of monthly student loan payments.”
“Too many of our most experienced attorneys have left public service due to this affordability crisis, resulting in ever-expanding workloads for remaining staff and leaving vulnerable New Yorkers without vital representation in criminal, family, and housing courts,” the lawmakers said. “When our courts are backlogged and understaffed, all New Yorkers suffer the impact of delayed justice.”
The letter’s signatories included Queens State Senators Kristen Gonzalez, Julia Salazar and Ramos, and Assemblymembers Andrew Hevesi, Steven Raga, Zohran Mamdani, Ron Kim, Claire Valdez, Catalina Cruz, Jessica González-Rojas, Khaleel Anderson and Larinda Hooks.
Ramos’ legislation saw bipartisan support for the past two legislative sessions, but ultimately was not passed in 2024.
And now, the missing $4 million student loan relief allocation in Hochul’s $252 billion proposed budget has drawn sharp criticism from legal advocates.
“We are deeply disappointed that Governor Hochul’s FY26 Executive Budget once again neglects to include funding to enhance student loan assistance for attorneys dedicated to serving the public interest,” Twyla Carter, the attorney-in-chief CEO of The Legal Aid Society, said in a statement. “Year after year, these attorneys work tirelessly to deliver critical legal services to countless vulnerable New Yorkers. Yet, funding for their student loan relief remains stagnant.
“This lack of action drives committed and experienced public interest attorneys out of the sector at a time when their expertise is more urgently needed than ever,” Carter added.
According to the American Bar Association, the average law graduate student finishes their education with $130,000 in student loan debt. As tuition for law school continues to climb each year, and as a Trump presidency makes advocates fear for the future of student relief programs, elected officials argue further investment is crucial to encourage new attorneys to enter the overworked and understaffed field.
But while the budget news was disappointing for lawmakers, public defenders and DAs, Ramos said she still has a lot of hope DALF will see expansion in 2025. Given the recent shows of solitarily, it is likely Ramos will reintroduce her previous bill if Hochul does not incorporate the $4 million in the final budget.
"The executive budget proposal is just the beginning of the conversation,” Ramos told the Eagle. “Given widespread bipartisan support across both changes to expand the HESC/DALF program and our shared goal of addressing affordability and public safety.”
“I am confident we will get this funding across the finish line come April," she added.
The Queens district attorney’s office declined to comment on the funding’s exclusion from Hochul’s budget but said they continue to support expanding DALF.
Hochul’s office did not respond to an inquiry from the Eagle.
