A new loan repayment assistance program will offer financial support to Tufts graduates and alums looking to enter careers in nonprofit or government agencies.
Tufts will make history by becoming the first undergraduate institution to implement such an initiative.
According to Tisch College of Citizenship and Public Service Dean Robert Hollister, the program falls in line with the Tufts' ideals and mission.
"Tufts has made a bold institutional commitment to preparing students in all fields for lifetimes of active citizenship," he said. "Student loan debt is a large and growing obstacle to students pursuing public service careers at Tufts and elsewhere."
Hollister said the initiative was driven by University President Lawrence Bacow and made possible by the $100 million microfinance fund that was donated in 2005 by Pierre Omidyar (LA '88) and his wife Pamela (LA '89).
The fund will provide for a budget of $500,000 that will be distributed to eligible applicants.
The program will be formally announced before Thanksgiving and the first round of applications will be due at the start of Sept. 2008, according to Hollister.
These applicants will hail from any of Tufts' 11 graduate and undergraduate schools. Hollister said that they could be either current seniors or past graduates.
Director of Financial Aid Patricia Reilly said that the initiative has involved a collaboration of the financial aid and student loan offices from all of Tufts' schools.
"At this point we're in the process of putting together the application - what info we'll need to gather and what the practice will be," she said.
Though the precise logistics of aid distribution have yet to be determined, Hollister said the assistance will in no way eliminate student debt.
"We don't expect to be able to cover the entirety of alumni's annual loan bills, but we want to provide meaningful assistance," he said.
As this is the first type of loan assistance program of its kind, exact planning is somewhat limited, Reilly said.
"We have no idea what the demands for the program will be," she said. "To some degree we're going to have to wait and see how many applications we get."
While the university is entering uncharted territory at the undergraduate level, Hollister said that loan aid programs have seen success at a number of other graduate schools.
"To date there's been significant positive experience with loan repayment assistance programs nationally, particularly in law schools and then a smaller number of other graduate professional programs," he said.
At Tufts, for example, a loan assistance program has been available to graduates of the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy for the past five years.
"It's been helpful to have that experience [to work from]," Hollister said.
Using the Fletcher school as a model, Hollister has worked alongside a committee whose members span the various Tufts campuses to establish policies and procedures.
"We will start the program with a clear specific set of guidelines but also adjust ... based on our experience," he said.
The guidelines will likely allow for the distribution of funds on a "case-by case basis," according to Hollister.
Each case will be evaluated by a committee of representatives from the applicant's specific school.
"They can make those determinations with close knowledge of the reality and contexts of their respected schools," Hollister said.
He said that the most significant criterion to consider will be amount of debt and applicant's expected amount of income.
As for the life-span of the assistance, Hollister said that such details have yet to be firmly established.
"We anticipate providing support for multiple years but we don't know yet. We're going to need to learn from the early years of experience," he said.
The benefits of the program, according to Hollister, will manifest themselves on several levels.
"One result is that more of our graduates get to follow their passion," he said. "The second outcome is that nonprofits and government agencies get better employees. Today some of those ... are losing talent and young people who really can't afford to take those jobs."
Additionally, the initiative is especially relevant considering that current levels of student debt are soaring. According to Hollister, the average amount of student debt has doubled nationally over the past decade.
Bacow hopes the program will give students the opportunity to consider first and foremost their desires, rather than their bank accounts.
People's decisions about careers are often "distorted by economic reality," he said.
"If the university can help you make that decision in a way that helps you pursue your passion, then all the better," he said.
Rob Silverblatt contributed reporting to this article.
