PROVIDENCE – Applications are now being accepted for the state’s Wavemaker Fellowship program, a student loan reimbursement program for graduates in certain fields that aims to encourage professionals to pursue careers in Rhode Island, Gov. Daniel J. McKee announced Friday.
The program offers professional graduates working in STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics), design and other key sectors a refundable tax credit that can cover student loan payments for up to four years. In the fiscal 2023 budget, McKee expanded the program to include health care workers and mental health care workers.
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McKee is proposing to expand the program to teachers in his fiscal year 2024 budget.
“Health care workers are heroes, and we need recent graduates of health care programs to put their skills to work right here in Rhode Island,” McKee said Friday. “The Wavemaker Fellowship is designed to ease the burden of student loan debt while helping Rhode Island retain the skilled talent that keeps our STEM and health care fields strong.”
This is the eighth round of the fellowship, which first launched in 2016. So far, it has awarded 1,168 workers student loan repayment for at least two years, with an average award of $4,200 per year.
“Our Wavemaker fellows are living in Rhode Island and working in jobs they love with less student debt and more financial freedom,” said R.I. Commerce Secretary Elizabeth Tanner. “This program is a win for our workforce, our local economy, and the public health of our communities.”
The program is meant to retain talent by incentivizing Rhode Island graduates to accept jobs in the state. Yet there has been controversy about whether the program has been successful.
The program drew 141 applicants in 2022, a 41% drop from 245 in 2021. Of the 141 applicants, 121 were approved.
R.I. Commerce Corp. previously said the decline in demand was because of the temporary suspension on student loan payments during the COVID-19 pandemic, and it expected the program’s appeal would rise again now that those policies have ended. However, some lawmakers and members of the Wavemaker Fellowship Committee, which reviews and approves applications, also suggested that the state should do more to advertise the program.
The program offers annual credits with a cap of $6,000 for a graduate with a master’s degree or higher, $4,000 for a graduate with a bachelor’s degree and $1,000 for a graduate with an associate’s degree.
For more information, visit wavemaker.commerceri.com.
