A new plan proposed by Governor Andrew Cuomo could release Syracuse University graduates from their first two years of loan payments.

Last week, Cuomo announced his new Get on Your Feet Loan Forgiveness Program as part of his 2015 Opportunity Agenda. The plan has the potential to affect 60 to 65 percent of SU graduates, said Mike Cahill, director of Syracuse University Career Services.

To be eligible for the program, students will have to be a graduate of a New York state university or college, must remain living in the state after graduation and must be enrolled in the federal Pay As You Earn program, according to a Jan. 21 syracuse.com article.

Additionally, in order to take advantage of the program, graduates could not have an income of more than $50,000 a year, and the program will begin with graduates in the class of 2015.

The federal Pay As You Earn program is open to students with Stafford, Direct PLUS Loans and consolidation loans, according to Debt.org, a website that helps people understand their debt. If any of the loans were made to parents, they are ineligible.

As debt can often be a major hurdle for students, the opportunity to be free from student loan repayments for any length of time could help them stay afloat while adjusting to life after college, Cahill said.

The PAYE program limits monthly loan repayments to 10 percent of a graduate’s disposable income, forgiving the remainder of the loan after 20 years. If employed in a public service position, forgiveness occurs after 10 years, according to a June 11 U.S. News and World Report article. The amount forgiven on the loan is taxed as income, unless you are in public service.

Cuomo’s initiative would pay for a graduate’s PAYE bills for the first two years post-graduation.

Despite these strict parameters, Donald Dutkowsky, an economics professor in the Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs, said Cuomo is taking “one good step” toward revitalizing New York state and keeping graduates in the area.

Dutkowsky said by tacking on these incentives, the government is trying to make the benefits of staying in New York outweigh the costs, such as high taxes and slower job growth, which are especially problematic in the upstate area. With this program, Dutkowsky said, Cuomo is trying “to encourage students to see New York state as a place to live.”

“This can’t be the only step,” he added, saying that the state government would also have to look into other ways to improve the state’s economy. But, he added, keeping college graduates in the state, helping them settle down and attracting businesses looking for skilled workers is a solid start.

Nayeli Jimenez, a sophomore biology major, said the new program could definitely sway her decision to stay in the state. If she cannot find employment in her field after graduation, Jimenez said during those two years she can look for another job, perhaps one that would be more aligned with her goals.

For some, however, other factors weigh more heavily in their decisions about their future. Hunter Longland, a sophomore economics major, said that his dreams of going out West trump Cuomo’s proposal. He also said that, “it depends a lot on the field you’re going into.”

While engineers will probably make more than $50,000, Longland said, this type of program could greatly assist educators and those in fields with lower starting salaries.

Cahill, the director of Career Services at SU, said the average starting salary of a college graduate is $43,000. He said that the program is definitely “something students should be aware of and consider.”

However, he said that he wouldn’t expect the number of students who stay in New York to increase significantly, which is consistently somewhere in the “50 percent range” of SU graduates.

He added that the government should “want to encourage education…[and] for people to [get an education] now it’s becoming more and more necessary to borrow money.”

Published on January 26, 2015 at 12:01 am

Contact Delaney: dovanwey@syr.edu