Putting Our Money Where Our Mission Is
KSG's Debt Forgiveness Fails the Public Service Test
Jeff Ginsburg, MPP2
Issue date: 12/6/07 Section: Op-Ed
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Meet Matt Mayrl. He's a second year student at KSG finishing a course of study in housing, transportation and urban development. Awarded a prestigious Rappaport Fellowship last year, he spent the summer working for the mayor of Boston. When he graduates this spring, he'll be looking for a job in public service - as well as a way to pay off nearly $50,000 in student debt. He is exactly the type of student for whom the Loan Repayment Assistance Program (LRAP) was designed.
But in all likelihood, Matt won't be eligible. Because he is married, his combined household income will top the $80,000 income threshold set by LRAP. So he and his wife will be forced to take on the debt by themselves.
Matt's story is compelling because it illustrates one of the larger flaws of the LRAP system. The calculus by which the thresholds are set fails to take into account the idiosyncratic nature of who can afford to pay back their debt and who cannot. Matt hopes to work for the City of Boston and therefore must live within the city limits. Considering Boston's cost of living, the $80,000 threshold is unreasonable.
As chair of the new KSSG Committee on Public Service, I am leading a group dedicated to finding a way to help students like Matt figure out ways to pay for their degrees without having to abandon public service. This is vital to the mission of the Kennedy School. As Dean Ellwood made clear an op-ed in the Citizen earlier this year, students who don't have debt tend to go into public service. Students with a lot of debt do not. That is an unacceptable reality for the nation's leading graduate school in the field of government and public policy.
There are two principal ways to alleviate the burden of student debt. One way is to offer fellowships to admitted students who commit to working in public service (defined here as government or nonprofit sectors) upon graduation. The other way is through LRAP or similar programs that offer loan forgiveness to qualified alumni.
Some evidence suggests that the former system of funding students through public service fellowships attracts more students to work in public service and leads to a higher rate of graduates in the public sector. At Princeton University's Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs, 90 percent of each entering class receives both tuition scholarships and stipends for living expenses. "Our goal is to enable graduate students to earn a master's degree without incurring loan indebtedness," the school says of its financial aid, "thereby making it more feasible to pursue careers of public service in the public and nonprofit sectors."
The program seems to be working. In the 2006 graduating class at the Woodrow Wilson School, more than eight in ten graduates headed into public service, with more than half accepting posts in state, local and federal government. In contrast, fewer than six in ten 2006 KSG graduates went directly into public service.
But we don't have to look outside Harvard to find solutions. Our committee is looking to borrow some innovative ideas from Harvard Law School's LRAP program. HLS's LRAP is not just better funded, it takes into account expenses more accurately. For example, it weighs whether a student's spouse also has debt or if parents have daycare expenses, as opposed to the KSG program, which weighs neither. It is the type of financial aid strategy that considers the circumstances of individual students, and it sends the clear message that lower-paying jobs are not just an option for singles.
The debate will continue as to whether funding students up front is more effective than offering debt forgiveness post-graduation. But either way, something has to change. Reforming LRAP would be a good start, and would hopefully help students like Matt Mayrl who fall through the cracks of the current program.
Jeff Ginsburg (MPP2) is the chair of KSSG's Committee on Public Service, which is evaluating the school's LRAP and financial aid policies.
But in all likelihood, Matt won't be eligible. Because he is married, his combined household income will top the $80,000 income threshold set by LRAP. So he and his wife will be forced to take on the debt by themselves.
Matt's story is compelling because it illustrates one of the larger flaws of the LRAP system. The calculus by which the thresholds are set fails to take into account the idiosyncratic nature of who can afford to pay back their debt and who cannot. Matt hopes to work for the City of Boston and therefore must live within the city limits. Considering Boston's cost of living, the $80,000 threshold is unreasonable.
As chair of the new KSSG Committee on Public Service, I am leading a group dedicated to finding a way to help students like Matt figure out ways to pay for their degrees without having to abandon public service. This is vital to the mission of the Kennedy School. As Dean Ellwood made clear an op-ed in the Citizen earlier this year, students who don't have debt tend to go into public service. Students with a lot of debt do not. That is an unacceptable reality for the nation's leading graduate school in the field of government and public policy.
There are two principal ways to alleviate the burden of student debt. One way is to offer fellowships to admitted students who commit to working in public service (defined here as government or nonprofit sectors) upon graduation. The other way is through LRAP or similar programs that offer loan forgiveness to qualified alumni.
Some evidence suggests that the former system of funding students through public service fellowships attracts more students to work in public service and leads to a higher rate of graduates in the public sector. At Princeton University's Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs, 90 percent of each entering class receives both tuition scholarships and stipends for living expenses. "Our goal is to enable graduate students to earn a master's degree without incurring loan indebtedness," the school says of its financial aid, "thereby making it more feasible to pursue careers of public service in the public and nonprofit sectors."
The program seems to be working. In the 2006 graduating class at the Woodrow Wilson School, more than eight in ten graduates headed into public service, with more than half accepting posts in state, local and federal government. In contrast, fewer than six in ten 2006 KSG graduates went directly into public service.
But we don't have to look outside Harvard to find solutions. Our committee is looking to borrow some innovative ideas from Harvard Law School's LRAP program. HLS's LRAP is not just better funded, it takes into account expenses more accurately. For example, it weighs whether a student's spouse also has debt or if parents have daycare expenses, as opposed to the KSG program, which weighs neither. It is the type of financial aid strategy that considers the circumstances of individual students, and it sends the clear message that lower-paying jobs are not just an option for singles.
The debate will continue as to whether funding students up front is more effective than offering debt forgiveness post-graduation. But either way, something has to change. Reforming LRAP would be a good start, and would hopefully help students like Matt Mayrl who fall through the cracks of the current program.
Jeff Ginsburg (MPP2) is the chair of KSSG's Committee on Public Service, which is evaluating the school's LRAP and financial aid policies.
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