Some students plan to leave the state when they graduate, but the Governor’s Office and Louisiana Education Loan Authority are trying to persuade students to stay by offering a six-percent rebate on Stafford Loans.
The rebate is offered to reverse the out-migration of citizens to other states.
“It is an incentive in partnership with the Governor’s office to assist with out-migration,” Lela Vice President of Student Loan and Administration Tricia Dubroc said.
According to a press release, the rebate, part of the “Graduates Choose Louisiana Program,” is also a part of the state Vision 2020 economic plan.
Vision 2020 is a development plan to stop the emigration of Louisiana college graduate students to other states, the press release stated.
Dubroc said the rebate is offered to students as an incentive to have a portion of their loan forgiven only if they agree to live and work in Louisiana after they graduate.
She said students who choose Lela Super Top program as the lender for their Stafford Loans are eligible for the rebate.
Dubroc said only students who have their first loan disbursed between July 1, 2003, and June 30, 2004, are eligible for the loan.
Students who currently have a Stafford Loan through another lender can choose to change their lender to Lela and become eligible to receive the rebate if they do it between July 2003 and June 2004, Dubroc said.
Dubroc said students must stay in the state for one year after graduation and make the first 12 payments of their loan before appling for the rebate.
Dubroc said after the first 12 months, 1 percent of the loan will be forgiven.
If students stay for a second year, an additional 2 percent of their loan will be forgiven, Dubroc said. An additional 3 percent will be forgiven if they stay for three years.
The program would bring the total rebate to 6 percent during a period of three years.
“We hope that students and parents take advantage of the borrowed money,” Dubroc said.
Despite the hopes of Lela and the state, not all University students are convinced the rebate will cause graduates to stay.
Nursing graduate Elizabeth Doyle said she believes students who are eligible for the rebate will not stay.
Doyle said the lack of available jobs would cause students to find jobs in other states.
Doyle said she knows the difficulty of finding a job in Louisiana.
“I graduated in December, and I have not been able to find a job with a suitable salary,” she said.
Biological sciences senior Kawanda Richardson said students’ decisions to stay might depend on the Louisiana job market.
Communications senior Steven Brockington said the idea sounds good.
“But the job market in Louisiana is not as good as other states like Texas and New York,” he said.
Dubroc said she agrees the job market is a factor for students, but Lela promotes the creation of new jobs.
Dubroc said Lela promotes economic development by encouraging employers to visit websites such as louisianagrads.com to search for graduates who meet their employee qualifications.
Stephen Johnston, deputy press secretary for the Governor’s Office, said the state is doing things to expand the job market for Louisiana graduates.
Johnston said Gov. Foster held an economic development session in 2002 to expand the job market.
As a result, the Quality Job Act was strengthened and led to 39 companies willing to use the program, Johnston said.
This will lead to 1,947 jobs and $274.3 million in capital investments, but this is only if all 39 companies agree to use the program, Johnston said.
Yet, Dubroc said Lela provides other incentives to graduates who choose to stay in the state after the three years they are required to stay.
Lela offers a 3 percent interest rate reduction after 36 one-time payments.
But some University students think the money is not enough to make students stay.
Nandagiopal Meduri, a civil engineering graduate student, said the decision to stay would depend on the opportunities the state provides to its graduates.
Brittany Bush, an ISDS sophomore, said the money students could potentially save would not be enough.
“They will be drawn by more money and bigger markets in other states,” Bush said.
The Governor’s Office press release said recent Census Bureau statistics show the state has lost more than 116,000 people in the 1990s because of job opportunities in other states.
Some students think the rebates will bring positive changes to Louisiana.
“It is a step in the right direction,” mechanical engineering sophomore Kirk Robinson said. “You have to start somewhere.”