Helen Lowenstein '78 and Louis Lowenstein Jr., Esq. have established the Lowenstein Loan Repayment Assistance Fellowship Program (LLRAFP) at the Columbia University School of Social Work.  In doing so, they have created a landmark instrument for financial assistance to social work students and graduates.  The establishment of the Program will launch an entirely new means of recruiting and assisting mature students who have demonstrated excellence, and who wish to enter and remain in not-for-profit social work.

Mature students who choose to enter the social work profession after spending years in another career will often have to make a serious financial sacrifice to do so.  They are among the most motivated, directed, and diligent of students.  However, financial considerations may play a larger role than anticipated in determining their career course after graduation.  The LLRAFP will address this problem.  It will enable prospective and graduating CUSSW students to enter and remain in full-time, not-for-profit social work because of a lower level of indebtedness.  Designed particularly for the mature student, the Program will reduce graduates' indebtedness by 25-50%, depending on need. 

Mrs. Lowenstein, an active CUSSW alumna and member of the School's Advisory Council, decided to benefit her alma mater in this way because of concerns voiced by the Council's Curriculum Committee.  She became convinced that the mature graduate, in particular, needs relief from debt in order to remain in the non-profit sector.  This Program, by its splendid example, will serve to encourage others to make similar investments in the intellectual and personal potential of these students.  By reducing their debt load, the LLRAFTP provides an opportunity for caring, committed individuals to move into a second career, or to begin their first, knowing that they will be able to fulfill their hope of working in not-for-profit social work.