Award

Payment & Distribution

Award benefits are calculated differently for new and renewal awards. Read more below to understand how quarterly repayment amounts are determined.

New Awards
For all new Extramural and Intramural LRP awards, repayments are based on the eligible educational debt at the contract start date. The award amount is equal to one-fourth of that debt per year, up to $50,000 annually. To receive the maximum of $50,000 per year, awardees must have at least $200,000 in eligible debt at the contract start date.

ACGME Fellows
The same formula applies to ACGME fellows, but the annual repayment cap is $20,000. To receive the full amount, ACGME fellows must have at least $80,000 in eligible debt at the contract start date.

Renewal Awards
Renewal award benefits are based on the remaining eligible educational debt at the start of the renewal period. The award amount is equal to one-half of that remaining debt, up to $50,000. If the remaining eligible debt is under $10,000, the full remaining amount will be awarded. To apply for a renewal, the awardee must have at least $2,000 in eligible educational debt.

Intramural renewal awards are limited to one year. Extramural renewal awards may be one or two years. If a two-year renewal is granted, the second year’s award amount is based on one-half of the remaining eligible debt at the end of the first renewal year, up to $50,000.

Quarterly Payments
Payments are made quarterly and applied to the loan with the highest repayment priority according to the loan repayment priority order (see below). If a loan is paid in full during the contract period, payments will shift to the loan with the next highest priority.

Loan Repayment Process

Payment Verification

As described above, when a payment is issued to a lender, awardees will be notified by email along with instructions on how to fulfill the payment verification requirement. Awardees can verify a payment by submitting a screenshot or printout of the account statement to DLR. To satisfy the payment verification requirement, the document must contain the following information:

• The awardee's name
• Date account statement was generated
• Posting date of LRP payment
• LRP payment amount
• Current loan balance or payoff amount
• Loan type (e.g., Stafford, Perkins, etc.)

See Account Statements for Payment Verification examples.

While the NIH LRPs will make loan payments on awardees' behalf on a quarterly schedule, it is still wholly the awardees' responsibility to make payments or other arrangements with their lenders to keep their loans in good standing before the commencement of LRP payments or during lapses in loan repayments due to administrative complications, Leave Without Pay, or a break in service. If an awardee wishes to have LRP payments applied to prepay future installments so that the lender does not require the awardee to make monthly payments between the quarterly LRP payments, it is the awardee's responsibility to contact, discuss, and finalize an arrangement with their lenders. LRP payments, once issued, are final and based on the information provided to NIH at the time of payment. Exceptions are limited to corrective actions such as a misapplied payment or an overpayment. DLR will not reimburse awardees for additional accrued interest, penalties, and/or fees assessed to loans at any time.

Loan Repayment Priority Order

DLR directs loan repayments to lenders in a specific order based on the type of each loan. For instance, loans guaranteed by the U.S. Department of Health of Human Services (e.g., Health Professions Student Loans) have the highest priority, thus payments will be directed to these loans before any payments are directed to Stafford, Perkins, Academic Institutional, or Private loans. When a loan is paid-in-full, any subsequent payments will be directed to the remaining loan(s) with the next highest priority. NIH will repay loans in the following order:

• Loans guaranteed by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services:
  • Health Education Assistance Loans (HEAL)
  • Health Professions Student Loans (HPSL)
  • Loans for Disadvantaged Students (LDS)
  • Nursing Student Loans (NSL)
• Loans guaranteed by the U.S. Department of Education:
  • Direct Loans such as Stafford, Consolidation, and Perkins Loans, including Graduate PLUS Loans disbursed on or after July 1, 2006
  • Federal Family Education Loans (FFEL) such as Stafford and Consolidation Loans
• Loans made or guaranteed by a state, the District of Columbia, the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, or a territory or possession of the United States
• Loans made by academic institutions
• Private (Alternative) Educational Loans:
  • MEDLOANS
• Private (non-guaranteed) Consolidation Loans

Taxes

LRP loan repayments are considered taxable income and can significantly impact an awardee's taxable liability. To help mitigate this burden, the LRPs also make a tax payment to the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) equal to 39 percent of the annual LRP repayment. The LRPs will not cover any additional LRP-related taxes.

The total amount reflected on the 1099-G form (Extramural) or the W-2 form (Intramural) will include both the loan repayments and the corresponding tax payments made on an awardee's behalf during the calendar year. A 1099-G or W-2 form will be mailed no later than January 31 following the calendar year in which LRP benefits were received.

To ensure proper delivery of the 1099-G or W-2 form, it is the awardee's responsibility to keep their home address updated in their eRA Commons Personal Profile.

Additional issues regarding taxes should be directed to an awardee's Certified Public Accountant (CPA), tax attorney, or IRS enrolled agent.

Renew an LRP Award

Current and prior LRP awardees may be eligible to apply for subsequent awards, called renewal awards. All renewal applications, from both current and past awardees, are competitively reviewed.

To be eligible, you must apply under the same program (Extramural or Intramural) as your current or most recent award. You should apply during the cycle for the fiscal year in which your next award will begin.

• If you are a current awardee, your next award will start the day after your current award ends.
• If your next award will begin on or before September 30, 2026, apply in the current cycle (See FY 2026 Deadlines)
• If your next award will begin on or after October 1, 2026, wait and apply in the FY 2027 cycle.