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Supporters ask legislature to preserve and refine Connecticut's student loan reimbursement program
Summary
Witnesses urged maintaining and expanding the state student loan reimbursement program (HB 6,074), highlighted early program uptake and average award sizes, and requested changes to hardship waivers and volunteer‑hour requirements to expand equitable access.
Nonprofit leaders, college presidents and individual witnesses urged the Higher Education Committee to preserve and refine the student loan reimbursement program and HB 6,074.
Rona Free, president of the University of Saint Joseph, described early program metrics: "the thousands of inquiries, the over 1,500 applications the program has already seen, and the checks that will soon be sent out" and said the average award was about $2,800 while the maximum is $5,000 per year (up to $20,000 total). She urged the legislature not to eliminate funding in the governor's proposed budget.
Witnesses and several individual commenters also urged the committee to expand hardship‑waiver language and to allow greater flexibility in how volunteer service hours are documented or waived. Mario Volpe and other speakers recounted cases of applicants with medical or family hardships who would be unable to complete 50 volunteer hours and therefore would be excluded unless waiver criteria are broadened.
Committee members acknowledged a hardship waiver already exists but asked staff to review how it applies to applicants who have not yet begun service hours or who face medical emergencies during the application cycle. No final decision was reached at the hearing.
