Kennedy School of Government students Andrew M. Simons, left, and Jeffrey H. Brown protest a recently announced change in the school’s Loan Repayment Assistance Program.

The Kennedy School of Government (KSG) will limit financial assistance to graduates who pursue low-paying public service jobs, in a move that sparked an all-night protest by students who said they will be stuck with tens of thousands of dollars in debt.

In response to Dean Joseph S. Nye’s announcement of the change last week, about a dozen student protesters set up tents yesterday afternoon near the school’s Eliot Street entrance and pledged to remain there through the night.

The protesters called on the school to sustain the growth of the Loan Repayment Assistance Program (LRAP), which aids KSG graduates who work in the public sector and earn less than $50,000 a year.

For recipients with incomes of less than $32,000, LRAP covers loan payments in full. And alumni who are married or who have a registered domestic partner can qualify for aid if they make up to $80,000.

Under the changes to the program announced by Nye, alumni will only be eligible to receive loan assistance for the first three years after graduation. Previously, the school placed no limit on the duration of benefits.

Nye said the decision to cap LRAP’s growth came as a result of the KSG’s continuing budget crunch.

“I cannot let the current open-ended commitment to LRAP undermine the school’s return to financial stability,” Nye wrote in an e-mail to KSG students Friday. He said the KSG will cap LRAP funding at its current level of $200,000 a year.

“Through much hard work...we have been able to bring the school’s budget into balance and are presently projecting a balanced budget for [fiscal year 2004] and a modest $50,000 surplus for [fiscal year 2005],” Nye wrote.

Protesters said the policy change would leave KSG students overburdened by loans, forcing graduates to enter the private sector.

“Without LRAP, a lot of us are forced to go the consulting route,” said Justin M. Tomczak, a second-year student in the KSG’s master’s of public policy program.

But in an interview with The Crimson yesterday, Nye said he doubted the changes would reduce the number of KSG graduates who take on public sector jobs.

“The Kennedy School gives 10 percent of its budget to financial aid, which is higher than any other school in the University,” Nye said.

In the last half decade, LRAP’s budget has increased nearly five-fold, and the program has expanded from 11 participants in 1999 to 65 beneficiaries today.

The program’s rapid growth is in part a result of Nye’s 2001 decision to raise the maximum household income of aid recipients from $32,000 to $50,000.

According to Nye, the school has always told students that LRAP benefits are conditional upon available funds.