Some Connecticut student borrowers can receive up to $20,000 over four years in loan repayment through a new program launched on New Year’s Day.

Several state legislators gathered Wednesday at Southern Connecticut State University to welcome the upcoming launch of the Student Loan Repayment Program.

The SLRP requires the Office of Higher Education to reimburse eligible individuals up to $5,000 of their student loan payments annually, for up to four years.

The program is designed to help all eligible applicants reduce their student debt. SCSU Interim President Dwayne Smith highlighted the help this program will provide to Connecticut residents.

“Borrowers collectively owed $1.6 trillion as of September 2023. Rising tuition costs, which are outpacing income growth, have left college students and families with a growing financial burden,” he said. “As a proud first-generation college graduate, I deeply understand the resilience it takes to pursue a higher education while facing significant financial challenges. These scholars carry not only their own dreams, but also the hopes of their families and communities.

To be eligible for the program, applicants must: have graduated from a public or private college or university in the state of Connecticut with a bachelor’s or associate’s degree; have a professional/professional license or certificate; or have obtained a special hardship exemption from the OHE and have left their college in good standing.

Hardship exemption criteria include personal or family medical or financial circumstances that have prevented the student from continuing their education.

SLRP applicants must also have been a Connecticut resident for at least five years, have an outstanding loan balance, have made payments on eligible loans and have 50 hours of volunteer work.

The filing status of applicants also matters. Those filing their federal income tax return as single and unmarried must have a Connecticut adjusted gross income of no more than $125,000. Married applicants cannot have an income greater than $175,000.

Local lawmakers and the Biden administration have tried to solve the problem of growing student debt in recent years.

Terrence Cheng, chancellor of Connecticut State Colleges and Universities, recounted his own struggles paying off student loans and said he understands the struggles borrowers face.

“We understand that student debt is dragging you down. I personally remember these challenges with my wife when we were still a young couple. And we were trying to figure things out. That’s a lot of weight to carry,” he said. “It hurts your ability to buy a house, your ability to buy a car, your ability to think about starting a family.”

Plans to address the student debt problem go further than simple repayment programs. “The board and I hope to freeze tuition at (Connecticut State universities) for the next two years,” Cheng said.

Although student debt is a scourge on the country, Connecticut has the fifth highest amount of student debt in the country, according to Cheng.

According to the report “Student Loan Debt by State“According to the Education Data Initiative, there are approximately 507,200 student loan borrowers in Connecticut and each owes an average of $36,672 in student debt.

Lt. Gov. Susan Bysiewicz expressed support for the program and said Gov. Ned Lamont was also proud to invest in the SLRP.

“In our state of just over 3 million people, 500,000 people with significant college debt, that’s one in six people. And my husband and I, when we graduated, (our debt) was twice as much as our mortgage payment, so we absolutely get it,” Bysiewicz said.

Aidon McCray, a sophomore majoring in business management at SCSU, said the program will help with his uncertain future.

“Like many students, I am faced with the reality of student loans. The truth is, I don’t even know how much I’ll owe when I graduate. And that uncertainty is something I unfortunately share with countless other students,” McCray said.

McCray mentioned that many of his closest friends have to start their higher education at community colleges because they can’t afford to attend CSCU or other state universities. As an entrepreneur, McCray restores custom shoes but wonders how he will invest in his business if he is continually weighed down by student loans.

“I have many dreams and aspirations. But these debts – which I don’t even pay yet – already put me in a box by limiting what I think I can do because of the reality of the financial burdens ahead,” he said.

Sydney Nelloms, an assistant professor of sociology at SCSU, worries about the future of students like McCray and those she teaches.

“(SCSU) faculty and I have had the privilege of working with bright, motivated students who represent the future of our society. But too often, I see the same students suffer the unfair disadvantage of the crushing burden of student debt that will follow them for decades after graduation,” Nelloms said.

“Student loans have become predatory for young people, these loans are marketed as investments in their future, but the reality is often much more complex,” she said. “The likelihood of paying off student debt without STEM degrees or other degrees that provide a higher return on investment is unfortunately generally low. Those of us with degrees in the social sciences, humanities, or similar often face this problem.

Passage of the SLRP was accomplished through a bipartisan effort, according to Rep. Eleni Kavros DeGraw, D-Avon, who serves as chairwoman of the Planning and Development Committee.

“When we first introduced it, people didn’t fully understand it. They kept saying, “Well, we’re already retaining our students. We don’t need another detention bill. And I said this is not a retention bill, this is an economic participation bill,” she said.

“Because we put this bill together in a bipartisan way, we weren’t just a Democratic think tank trying to figure out how we were going to put this together,” she said. “We had many, many Republican colleagues and co-sponsors of this bill, and that was important because at the state level you could work together and sometimes that can be better than what we see every day at Washington.”

As for the success of the program, OHE and lawmakers are optimistic.

“They anticipate about 100,000 people will apply,” said Rep. Corey Paris, D-Stamford. “They have been inundated with calls and emails since we announced this. Many people have already completed their community service well in advance.

The SLRP will be available through the OHE CT Scholars database. A link to the site will be available via The OHE website with instructions on how to apply.

This story was originally published in the Connecticut Mirror on November 20, 2024.