A $1 million fund is being established at Harvard Law School to provide money for students entering careers in public service. The Public Service Venture Fund replaces the third-year tuition waiver program piloted in 2008 and suspended early last year.
The new program awards students with one-year grants ranging from a few thousand dollars to as much as $80,000 to supplement salaries in the public sector or to start non-profit organizations.
The former Public Service Initiative was a groundbreaking program that exempted students who committed to public service work for five years after graduation from paying their third-year tuition.
According to Alexa Shabecoff, assistant dean for public service at Harvard Law, the amounts awarded may vary depending on student interest and need. Students entering the law school this fall will be the first class eligible to receive money from the new program upon graduating.
Professor David B. Wilkins, who was consulted during the creation of the Public Service Venture Fund, emphasized that the new program is not meant as an endless source of funding for student projects.
“We’re not a real venture fund,” Wilkins told The Harvard Crimson. “And even a real venture fund does not give any sustained support.”
The law school has never offered seed grants before, Shabecoff said. She plans to gather expertise from foundations that offer similar services as well as convene a committee of faculty and public and private sector professionals.
“We are certainly breaking new ground,” Shabecoff said. “Yes, it’s a challenge, but we have a pretty good brain trust.”
To read about the suspension of the former Public Service Initiative, click here.
