NEW BRITAIN, Conn. — Several Democratic state lawmakers are putting forth a proposal aimed at helping address the student loan debt crisis that would create a reimbursement program, putting tens of thousands of dollars back in some people's pockets who went to a state university.
“At this point, being a senior it’s kind of in the back of our mind 24/7, payments are going to start approaching and kind of figuring out how to tackle that," said Chad Croxford, a student at Central Connecticut State University.
That's why Democratic State Representative Corey P. Paris is proposing a student loan reimbursement program that would pay up to $25,000 of a participating borrower's student loan over five years.
"Bring some relief for what is crippling probably the greatest generation of innovative minds," said Rep. Paris.
Nationally, 45 million borrowers have about $1.8 trillion in student loan debt. There are about 542,300 Connecticut student loan borrowers and they hold about $19.7 billion in total student debt, according to 2021 data from the Federal Reserve Bank of New York.
Only certain graduates of Connecticut state universities would be eligible to participate in the program. Some requirements include living in Connecticut for five consecutive years after graduation, not having a gross income of more than $125,000 and completing 100 hours of volunteer service during each year in the program.
"For us, I think this is two-fold. It helps our local non-profits, it helps our local communities, it helps keep, retain and attract young people to our state," said Rep. Paris.
Eligible student loans would be those issued or refinanced by the Connecticut Higher Education Supplemental Loan Authority. The program would be administered by the Office of Higher Education, which would pay $5,000 for five years to that loan authority as a credit against the balance of an eligible student loan.
"I think what we want to do is look at a start-up for a pilot program for the first year and see how many young people would be interested in this program, would be qualified," said Rep. Paris.
Money from the program would be appropriated from the general fund, leading some people around the state to weigh in on the FOX61 Facebook page.
"It was the decision of the student or his parents (including my family) to take out the loans knowing we would have to pay them back. Not fair to make others pay for what we elected to do," wrote James U.
"As debt levels continue to rise across our state and across our country and repayment falters for some of those borrowers, taxpayers will already take on that risk and the federal and state government could lose billions," said Rep. Paris.
The proposed bill had a public hearing and is still in the early stages of the legislative process. Rep. Paris said details of the plan are not finalized and are a work in progress.
Angelo Bavaro is an anchor and reporter at FOX61 News. He can be reached at abavaro@fox61.com. Follow him on Facebook and Twitter.
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