Architectural designer Kaitlin DeGregorio was weighing a job offer in New York 2½ years ago when she instead made a commitment to a construction firm closer to home in Providence. Her now-fiance, an engineer, had an offer in Boston, but he also went to an Ocean State employer.
What made them forgo jobs in bigger cities with the potential for higher pay?
In part, a promise of student loan repayment – not from their respective employers, but through a state program aimed at sought-after workers in selected industries that Rhode Island leaders want to grow.
“We really wanted to stay in Rhode Island,” DeGregorio said. “But we were getting really good offers from other places.” The Wavemaker Fellowship grants they received were part of the benefits that persuaded them to stay.
“It was definitely a factor,” said DeGregorio, who now works at Union Studio Architecture and Community Design Inc. Her total award, dispersed over two years, will be almost $6,440.
“It’s one of those things where it’s part of the factors you work into your budget,” she said.
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PLANNING: Joel VanderWeele, architect, and Kaitlin DeGregorio, architectural designer, look at plans for the Emerson Green project in Massachusetts. VanderWeele and DeGregorio are two of the six employees at Union Studio Architecture and Community Design in Providence who have received Wavemaker Fellowship awards. / PBN PHOTO/MICHAEL SALERNO[/caption]
ATTRACTION ACTION
Since it launched in 2016, the Wavemaker program has been part of a broad package of incentives designed to entice new employers and highly trained workers to Rhode Island, particularly in the fields of science, technology, engineering and mathematics – collectively known as STEM – as well as design and other key areas.
Companies in those innovative sectors are seen has having the most growth potential while creating lucrative jobs. But traditionally, other places such as Boston and New York have syphoned much of the talent away from Rhode Island as highly prized graduates emerge from local colleges.
While it has attracted less public attention than larger incentive programs such as Rebuild Rhode Island, the Wavemaker Fellowship attempted to tip the scales, cumulatively awarding $7.3 million in direct payments to nearly 900 Rhode Island-based STEM workers so they can pay down their student loans.
And Gov. Gina M. Raimondo is seeking another $2 million for the program in her fiscal 2021 budget.
But has it been effective? It’s not yet clear.
An evaluation on the Wavemaker program’s success in keeping recipients in Rhode Island over time has not been conducted. A revenue-based analysis of the program is scheduled to take place this summer.
There is some positive data. To date, annual summaries of the program and tracking by survey indicate almost one-third of the Wavemaker fellows have received promotions at their workplaces, according to Jillian Butler, director of the Wavemaker program.
From what she’s seen, Butler said, the program is working to keep talented employees in Rhode Island, at jobs that the state has determined are the most critical for economic growth.
“It’s wonderful to see people who were born and raised here, and went to school here, want to stay,” she said. “Especially when you think about some of these key industries and how New York and Boston can really be a shiny object for them to want to leave.”
The incentives initially were embraced fully by the General Assembly when they appeared in Raimondo’s first budget, which took effect in July 2015. In recent years, however, the legislature has reduced requested funding.
Lawmakers have said the Wavemaker program hasn’t been singled out for cuts, and they attributed the reductions to overall belt-tightening. In fact, several said Wavemaker still has backing.
Rep. Brian C. Newberry, the former House minority leader and a Republican who represents Burrillville, doesn’t like any of the government incentive programs philosophically. But the Wavemaker Fellowship strikes at two fundamental problems – student loan debt and recruitment by Rhode Island companies, he says.
“If you favor any program like that, [Wavemaker] does seem to philosophically make more sense to me than others,” he said.
Legislators say they aren’t sure what will happen with Raimondo’s Wavemaker funding request this year, but the leadership has indicated general support. Senate President Dominick J. Ruggerio, D-Providence, referred to the fellowship in his opening day address Jan. 7, citing a proposed expansion in scope to include loan repayment for K-12 teachers “in hard-to-fill areas like math, science and world languages.”
One thing is sure: The Wavemaker program is becoming more competitive. In 2016, when it launched, 308 people applied for grants, with 208 approved, for a 68% acceptance rate. It’s tightened every year, with only 28% approved in December 2019.
The increased competition is partly due to more applicants becoming aware of the debt-reduction program, and partly due to funding cuts, Butler said.
Awareness of the program has grown, through word-of-mouth and information being relayed to employers. The number of applicants swelled to 688 in 2019.
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THE TOP 10: Rhode Island employers whose workers have received the most Wavemaker Fellowship grants since 2016. / SOURCE: R.I. Commerce Corp.[/caption]
A LOAD OFF
Adam Anderson, a landscape architect known in Providence for creating the “10,000 Suns” sunflower installation on a former Interstate 195 parcel, is a Wavemaker fellow. A graduate of Rhode Island School of Design and Ohio State University, Anderson is the owner of landscape architecture firm Design Under Sky LLC.
He also has student debt in the low six figures, and the Wavemaker program is one of many factors that kept him in Rhode Island.
This is the first year he’ll receive the first of two $6,000 Wavemaker grants. He said he appreciates not only the dent it will make in his outstanding debt, but also the signal it sends to young professionals.
“It’s comforting to know [state leaders] would like to keep designers and artists,” he said. “Besides the money, it’s encouraging that there is some acknowledgement and support for that.”
Joel VanderWeele, an architect at Union Studio, learned of the program through co-worker DeGregorio. A graduate of the University of Notre Dame, he came to Rhode Island to take a job at Union Studio.
“It seemed too good an opportunity to pass up,” said VanderWeele, 32.
His award of slightly less than $4,000 means he will obtain, in total, a little less than $8,000 as a fellow.
“In terms of my actual ability to pay off my student loans, it’s basically a drop in the bucket,” VanderWeele said. “I’ll probably be paying student loans until I retire.” Still, it allowed him and his wife, a librarian who also has student loan debt, to contribute to a down payment on a house.
“The Wavemaker Fellowship helped convince us to pull the trigger,” he said.
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THE BREAKDOWN: How the Wavemaker Fellowship grants were distributed by sector in 2019. / SOURCE: New Localism Advisors[/caption]
‘QUITE RARE’
Economic-development specialists say the program is unusual in that it provides direct debt relief but is targeted at particular industries.
Bruce Katz, the founder of New Localism Advisors, which authored a report that evaluated Rhode Island’s economic-development efforts, said the Wavemaker Fellowship is aligned with the state’s goals.
“They basically say to the applicants: show us you’re working in one of these sectors,” Katz said. “There has been an effort to grow and leverage these industry clusters by aligning a whole set of different programs and initiatives. That is quite rare.”
His evaluation did point to areas that need improvement. He suggested Rhode Island retool the program to target students who are already in degree programs, providing in-university debt relief rather than post-graduate help.
“Students are already feeling the pinch now,” he said.
Another recommendation – to broaden the scope to include teachers in the STEM fields – has already been incorporated into Raimondo’s budget proposal.
Why? Because there aren’t enough STEM workers in Rhode Island, and that effort starts with the education of students in secondary schools, Katz said.
R.I. Commerce Secretary Stefan Pryor says the proposed expansion to K-12 educators specializing in either science, technology or math is intended to address two deficiencies.
The state doesn’t have enough of those teachers. And it needs qualified teachers in those fields to better prepare students for careers in them.
Under the governor’s proposal, $400,000 of the $2 million budget for Wavemaker grants would go to teachers repaying their loans. The proposal would see up to 25% of the fellowships go to teachers.
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RETENTION BOOST: Cliff Grimm, foreground, managing director at EpiVax in Providence, says the Wavemaker program has increased the retention rate at the pharmaceutical company, which had 32 employees in 2019. / PBN PHOTO/MICHAEL SALERNO[/caption]
SHIFT IN FOCUS
The program was envisioned, initially by a junior state senator, as a way to help recent graduates saddled with student loan debt. Then, under Raimondo, it focused on the STEM fields as a way to make the state more competitive in attracting young, educated workers.
Sen. Ryan Pearson, D-Cumberland, initially introduced his bill for the “Stay Invested in Rhode Island” Fellowship in 2013. He worked with Raimondo to retool it, he said.
When he first proposed the measure, Pearson had $105,000 in student loan debt after earning a finance degree from Providence College. He still owes about $30,000.
“My first and early version was that every Rhode Islander should be eligible for this,” he said. “I’ve continually advocated for us to make the program bigger. … While we’re living in reality, we have to control the fiscal impact of it.”
As it stands now, fellows can receive up to $6,000 per year, distributed over two years.
Unlike other programs, it is aimed squarely at employees. Recipients apply, then if awarded a grant, receive it only after they have paid their student loans for the next year. Their employment and positions are re-verified before the funds are distributed in a lump sum, according to Butler.
Pearson would prefer the money be distributed at once, within the year it’s appropriated. “Rather than do a two-year cycle, do a one-year cycle and get it to the students faster,” he said.
There is no residency requirement or a clawback provision if a recipient later moves to another state. The authorizing legislation requires 70% of all awardees to either be living in Rhode Island or have graduated from an in-state college, Butler said. All fellows must work for a Rhode Island company.
To date, 890 fellows representing more than 160 colleges and universities have received grants.
Awards are made by a fellowship committee, which doesn’t see the names of applicants or their employers. The fellowship is aimed at five advanced industries: biomedical innovation, design, food, custom manufacturing and defense.
Because the Wavemaker program is based on employment in selected industries – with a weighted decision given to workers in high-growth, high-demand jobs within those industries – the program favors some employers. For instance, the Naval Undersea Warfare Center in Newport accounts for 71 of the fellows, nearly twice the number of any other employer.
Smaller employers have benefited, as well.
EpiVax Inc., a Providence pharmaceutical company, has three Wavemaker fellows. Cliff Grimm, EpiVax managing director, says the eligibility for the debt-reduction program has become a benefit for workers, even though it’s not offered by the company. He thinks it does increase retention at EpiVax, which had 32 employees in 2019.
“It’s one of those things, where if you look at a total benefits package, our group life insurance or our group long-term disability insurance that we pay for, those things individually don’t keep people here. But when you put all of these things together, it’s useful,” Grimm said.
Union Studio, the architecture firm in Providence, has six fellows.
DeGregorio, who graduated from Roger Williams University and has college loan debt in the six figures, said the grant has allowed her to make a lump-sum payment on her loans. Her fiance, who qualified for the program a year after she did, will similarly be able to put a payment down on his debt in another year.
“It was absolutely helpful,” DeGregorio said. “I’m saving for my wedding. We’re trying to build a life in Rhode Island.”
Mary MacDonald is a PBN staff writer. Contact her at Macdonald@PBN.com.
