University to Pay Off Loans for Students Who Work in Public Service

Tufts University, in Medford, Mass., announced yesterday that it plans to help pay off the loans of its undergraduate and graduate students if they work for a nonprofit group or a public-sector employer, reports The Chronicle of Higher Education.

The amount of loan reimbursement will depend on a student’s loan burdens and income levels. The new plan also applies to alumni in public-service jobs. Tufts officials said the program is the first of its kind in the country to promise this level of education-debt relief to all undergraduate and graduate students.

University officials told the newspaper that the initial $500,000 for the program will come from the Omidyar-Tufts Microfinance Fund, a $100-million donation the university received from Tufts graduates Pierre Omidyar, the founder of eBay, and his wife, Pamela.

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