NIH Loan Repayment Programs 2020
Release Date: September 14, 2020
The National Institutes of Health (NIH) is accepting new and renewal applications for its five (5) Loan Repayment Programs that provide support to health professionals pursuing careers in biomedical and behavioral research.
The application cycle is September 1, 2020 – November 20, 2020.
In order to submit your application by the deadline, the UNC certification official must certify your information. NIH can repay up to $50,000 a year of qualified educational debt via five (5) extramural programs:
- Clinical Research
- Pediatric Research
- Health Disparities Research
- Contraception and Infertility Research
- Clinical Research for Individuals from Disadvantaged Backgrounds
Criteria of the Extramural Programs
Eligibility
- Citizenship: applicants must be U.S. citizens (or U.S. national or permanent resident status)
- Qualifying Degree: Applicant must have an M.D., Ph.D., Pharm.D., Psy.D., D.O., D.D.S., D.M.D., D.P.M., D.C., N.D., O.D., D.V.M., or equivalent doctoral-level degree from an accredited institution
- Qualifying Educational Debt: The sum of your educational debt must equal at least 20% of your base salary from the institution supporting your research
- Qualifying Research: Applicant must commit at least two (2) years to conduct qualified research funded by a domestic nonprofit organization or U.S. federal, state or local government entity
- Refer to the NIH Loan Repayment Eligibility webpage for further guidance
Other Considerations
- Applicants may only submit one (1) LRP application to one (1) program per NIH fiscal year
- Applicants must devote > 50% effort to research for two (2) years (for new applicants) or one (1) to two (2) years (for renewals)
- Applicants who have no federal judgment liens against their property arising from a federal debt, even if the judgment is paid-in-full or satisfied
- Up to $50,000 of qualified student loan debt (including most undergraduate, graduate, and medical school loans) may be supported annually
- The loan is in addition to the institutional salary received for research
- Applications must be submitted no later than the last day of the submission deadline via the LRP online site by 8:00 p.m. (Eastern Time Zone)
- Refer to the NIH Loan Repayment Application Guide or FAQ's webpage for further guidance
UNC Submission Process
- Applicants should complete LRP application online via the LRP website
- Applicants should choose Brian Collier as the Institutional Authorized Official using This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. as the email address (if the system tells you another UNC individual was chosen, don't worry, we can still find your application and certify it)
- Applicants should complete and obtain department signatures on the UNC LRP Certification Form and submit it by email to This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
- Once the form is received and reviewed, OSR will certify the applicant's information in the LRP system
Completing the UNC Loan Repayment Program Certification Form:
- Current Institutional Base Salary is required
- Department Chair & Business Manager signatures are required
- Department Contact Name and e-mail address are required
- UNC LRP Certification Form is due to OSR (This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.) by Friday, November 13, 2020
- IF AN APPLICANT FOR YOUR DEPARTMENT HAS ALREADY SUBMITTED THEIR APPLICATION FOR THE PROGRAM, THIS FORM WILL STILL NEED TO BE COMPLETED AND RETURNED TO OSR SO THAT WE CAN COMPLETE THE CERTIFICATION PROCESS.
Please direct all questions to OSR at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..
