2024 NIH Loan Repayment Program offers new features and expanded program

Applications for Fiscal Year (FY) 2024 NIH Loan Repayment Program (LRP) awards opened on September 1, 2023. LRPs can repay up to $100,000 of qualified educational debt for those who are eligible and agree to perform NIH mission-relevant research. The deadline to submit an application is November 16, 2023.

The LRPs help recruit and retain highly qualified health professionals to careers in biomedical or behavioral research. Several different extramural LRP categories are available, so review each to see which may be the right fit for your research. Please also take a couple minutes to watch this brief video where Matthew Lockhart, MBA Director of the OER Division of Loan Repayment (DLR) discusses eligibility criteria and the program categories.

Similar to when the NIH expanded the Health Disparities Research LRP for the FY 2020 LRP program cycle, they are doing the same for the Clinical Research LRP for Individuals from Disadvantaged Backgrounds. The recently published funding opportunity explains who qualifies as an individual from a disadvantaged background and this post shares some other related information.

The process of applying for and managing an LRP award is also now simpler and more cybersafe. Along with moving the application to ASSIST to prepare and submit applications electronically a couple years ago, the NIH also recently launched two new portals that can be accessed through eRA Commons. The enhanced cybersecurity features afforded by eRA means their financial and other personal information is more safe and secure.

• The LRP Participant Portal allows awardees to see their student loans as well as payment and verification history.

• Research supervisors can use their portal to verify an LRP awardee's research service by answering a series of questions about LRP recipients under their supervision, including their research service hours and ensuring they are fulfilling other necessary requirements.

In applying for the FY 2024 LRP cycle, be sure to review each Institute or Center Mission and Research Priorities first, and consider discussing the process and your ideas with appropriate scientific LRP liaisons at NIH.  Research and funding priorities can change on a yearly basis, so it is essential that applicants contact a liaison—ideally in advance of the opening of the application cycle—to ensure an appropriate understanding of each NIH Institute and Center research priorities. DLR is also available to answer any questions by phone, or email, Monday through Friday, 9.a.m. to 5 p.m. ET.