State officials have announced an expansion of a debt repayment incentive program that began last year for recent graduates of Vermont colleges working in the state, opening eligibility to master’s students, entrepreneurs and more.
This renewed round of the Green Mountain Job and Retention Program provides up to $5,000 in student loan repayment for 2024 graduates of the state’s higher education institutions who commit to live and work in Vermont for at least two years.
To be eligible for the current round, an applicant must have graduated between December 2023 and June 2024.
The initiative looks to counterbalance the state’s aging workforce and provide relief from its high cost of living for young people.
Last year, just 169 of 400 available grants were awarded. Recipients hailed from all 14 counties and all of Vermont’s eligible post-secondary institutions were represented among the alma maters of awardees.
“It is working, but it was a pilot year,” said Michele Karode, the program’s director at the University of Vermont in Burlington. UVM and the Vermont Student Assistance Corporation administer the program, which distributes state funds.
UVM is home to the state’s largest graduating class each year, and its graduates received the most grants of any of the eligible institutions. Karode stressed that the program is aimed at all Vermont colleges, and at both out-of-state students and their in-state classmates.
“Most of the enrollment for UVM is out-of-staters,” she said. “We want them to stay.”
To bring its increased target of 450 awards within reach, the state has expanded the eligibility requirements to include all occupations, not just those that require bachelor’s degrees. Last year, according to Karode, the prerequisite of employment that explicitly required a bachelor’s degree proved an obstacle.
More and more employers, said Karode, are “taking those required bachelor’s degree or required master’s degree (criteria) out” of their position listings.
Karode frequently encountered complications among applicants in the nursing industry. “In two years, they have to have a bachelor’s degree finished, just not at the time of hire,” she said.
Many people, she theorized, may have not applied to the program at all if they foresaw these difficulties. “That to me is a huge barrier,” she said.
Master’s recipients and graduates starting their own businesses are also newly welcome to apply.
“We all want master’s degree students to stay in the state,” said Karode. “They typically have already created their community here.”
She also cited Champlain College as a reason for the new emphasis on entrepreneurship in the program’s second year.
“A lot of their graduates start their own businesses,” she stated. “We want you to benefit from this $5,000 in student loan repayment, because you’re staying here in your community.”
One surprise last year for Karode and the administrative team was the age range of their applicants. The average age was over 24, and almost 15% of recipients were over 30, including as old as 51.
“It was a lot of Vermont State Colleges applicants that were coming and finishing their bachelor’s degrees after working on them for a longer period of time,” she said.
She explained that the older cohort wasn’t large enough to dissuade legislators of the fund’s efficacy. And in any case, she added, it was helping the workforce thrive.
“The state is really showing that they’re investing in their people,” she said.
The future of the program still hangs in the balance. “We really do need to show that it’s worthwhile,” said Karode.
Graduates from Goddard College may still apply, Karode said in an email, even as the school recently announced its closure.
Applications for the program are first-come, first-served, and are accepted starting today, June 3rd.
Read the story on VTDigger here: Vermont renews, expands student debt repayment program for the class of 2024.