Letter to the Editor: Making Waves to Reduce College Debt

By Deborah Ruggiero (D-Dist. 74, Middletown & Jamestown)

I strongly believe that investing in education pays big dividends in a future economy. By 2020, 70 percent of all jobs in Rhode Island will require at least some certificate or degree beyond a high school diploma. Ensuring that Rhode Islanders have what it takes to fill those jobs keeps talent in our state and helps our businesses grow.

College used to be pretty affordable, but not today. The average Rhode Island student graduates with over $35,000 in student loan debt—the second highest of any state.

The governor’s Rhode Island Promise proposal of free tuition for two years is an admirable idea, but there’s no guarantee graduates stay in the state.
However, Rhode Island already has a successful program that helps reduce student debt and is designed to keep talented college graduates who received a degree in STEM—science, technology, engineering, and math— in well-paying STEM jobs in Rhode Island.

Under the Wavemaker Fellowship program enacted in 2015, the state provides a tax credit to pay down college debt for those employed full-time at a local company in a STEM job.

By the end of this year, about 433 Wavemaker fellows will have benefited from the program. The credit is for up to $4,000 a year toward a bachelor’s degree and the money is available for two years as long as the recipient continues to be employed full-time in a STEM field in Rhode Island.

The total annual budget for the program, administered through Commerce Rhode Island, is $1.7 million. That’s decimal dust. It’s not enough funding to meet the demand of so many college graduates working in this state trying to chip away at college debt.

Instead of under funding this successful program as we set our sights on an entirely new program, let’s expand the Wavemaker Fellowship to STEAM and include the arts — and that could include “the art of hospitality” and “the art of tourism,” since both are important economic sectors in this state. A little innovation could make this program a pathway to reducing college debt and keeping talent in our state.

Let’s increase the credit amounts and realistically fund this program in the budget at a much more significant level. Students will compete, complete and, once employed, become eligible to apply for a Wavemaker Fellowship to help reduce college loan debt every year they work in Rhode Island.

We need all our talented young people to find a job, work and live in Rhode Island, and pay taxes to grow the state and local economy.

It provides hope to students at any of Rhode Island’s outstanding post-secondary schools — University of Rhode Island, Community College of Rhode Island, Rhode Island College, Brown University, Salve Regina, Roger Williams, New England Tech, Bryant, Providence College, Rhode Island School of Design and Johnson & Wales.

By expanding the STEM to STEAM, broadening the base of applicants, and increasing the funding, the Wavemaker Fellowship Program would help stem brain drain. And it’ll help reduce the college debt crisis that’s a kitchen table topic in every working family household today.

Now that’s a promise worth making!

Rep. Deborah Ruggiero is chairwoman of the House Small Business Committee and serves on House Finance. A Democrat, she represents District 74 in Middletown and Jamestown.