The Buckingham

Private liberal arts colleges might begin to follow in the footsteps of law schools around the country, as they are now offering to help students pay off their lones after they graduate.

The financial aid benefit, which targets students who expect to pursue careers in low-paying public-service fields, helps colleges find and retain those students who would otherwise enroll somewhere cheaper, or nowhere at all. Colleges want to help those students who, although excellent, suffer from the fear and hassle of paying back student loans after graduating.

An annual survey by UCLA’s Higher Education Research Institute has said that a growing number of college freshmen are saying they did not attend their dream school due to high costs in tuition. This is what colleges today want to help avoid.

According to USA Today, Erica Harris, 22, a May graduate of Huntington University said, “I don’t have to worry about how much money I’m going to be making. It frees me up to do what I feel I’m called to do.” Huntington University offered to help Harris pay off her loans, after she almost withdrew due to finances.

If a student’s job after he or she graduates pays less than $20,000 a year, the loan repayment plan will cover that year’s payments. Another great aspect of this is that participating students pay nothing for this benefit. Instead, the college pays a fee of about $1,200 per student per year to LRAP Association, a company that uses the pooled funds to repay qualifying graduates.