UNM School of Law Professor Emeritus Peter Winograd saw five years of persistence and hard work pay off on Sept. 27, when President George Bush signed the College Cost Reduction and Access Act into law.
Winograd, along with Georgetown University law professor Philip Schrag, helped draft a provision in the new law to greatly reduce the standard monthly payment on federal education loans for graduates who are pursuing a career in public service. After 10 years of public interest work and making consistent payments, the loan’s remaining balance will be forgiven.
“Our hope is that a graduate who spends 10 years in a low-paying public interest job will stay with it after the loan is forgiven,” says Winograd. “This now makes it possible for people with their hearts set on public interest employment to be financially able to undertake such work.”
Winograd is the chair of the ABA Legal Education Section’s Government Relations and Student Financial Aid Committee. Schrag is the vice chair of the committee, which had been lobbying for this provision for over five years.
Background on Peter Winograd...
Winograd was recently elected to a second two-year term as Secretary of the American Bar Association's Council of the Section of Legal Education & Admissions to the Bar. The Council is the agency designated by the United States Department of Education to accredit U.S. law schools.
Professor Winograd joined the UNM School of Law faculty in 1976 as associate dean. Through his involvement in the ABA, he has helped evaluate over 30 law schools across the country, often discovering new teaching ideas and approaches that he has helped to incorporate into the UNM School of Law.
He is also a public member of the Liaison Committee on Medical Education, the medical school accrediting body appointed by the Association of American Medical Colleges and the American Medical Association.
Media Contact: Benson Hendrix, (505) 277-1816; e-mail: bhendrix@unm.edu
Posted by bhendrix at October 23, 2007 12:45 PM