Houghton College has entered into a partnership with the LRAP Association to offer a Loan Repayment Assistance Program (LRAP) to incoming Houghton students. The program will officially begin with the arrival of next year’s first year class. After their successful graduation from Houghton College, the Class of 2018 will receive monetary assistance based on their fulfillment of certain requirements, such as fulltime employment within the United States and a maximum yearly income of $38,000.
Houghton’s conversation with LRAP began with an e-mail announcing Spring Arbor University’s decision to implement LRAP at their institution. Spring Arbor experienced increased enrollment and satisfaction among its students and their parents. Houghton began discussing what it would look like to bring LRAP to its campus. “We looked at the profile of our students and at the students who did not matriculate this fall. 131 students responded to us that chose not to come to Houghton, and 79 of those cited debt and concerns about whether they would be able to get a job after they graduate,” explained Eric Currie, Vice President for Enrollment Management. “For the first time ever we had significant numbers of parents who refused to sign Parent PLUS loans.” From these developments, the team considering using LRAP at Houghton concluded that the program would be a good fit for the college. Ryan Spear, Associate Director of Admission, reinforced this reasoning, saying, “We’re responding to what people are saying they’re concerned about.” Houghton will be the first school in the Eastern United States to offer LRAP to all incoming students.
What this will end up looking like for incoming Houghton students is an ongoing relationship with LRAP representatives, starting from the moment they state their interest in receiving LRAP benefits after their graduation from Houghton. “In our financial aid package there will be a letter from the LRAP Association stating that the student is now able to participate in the LRAP program, and they will have paperwork that they will need to sign,” said Currie, “They meet as a group once a year and will come to campus to provide lunch for the students until they graduate, and then when they graduate they will connect with them in the first months to make sure that they have the proper paperwork, they understand how to file, and they understand the requirements.” As well as below $38,000 per year, those requirements include graduating from Houghton College and at least 30 work hours per week. Beginning four months after the commencement of loan repayments, LRAP provides quarterly checks based on an inverse percentage-to-income relationship. The program also allows up to 18 months for finding employment after graduation, and a three-year grace period for graduate school or overseas missions.
As this is a new partnership, LRAP will only be made available to incoming freshmen and selective transfer students, rather than all of the students currently at Houghton, something about which the team at Houghton is straightforward. “Students, you should not be upset,” said Ryan Trout, LRAP Association Training Representative, “There are a lot of staff that would like to have had this as well. This is Houghton College moving forward…. Be proud to be a Houghton College student, that your college is doing such a good thing.” Those involved with bringing LRAP to Houghton are confident about its possibilities as well as its alignment with Houghton’s goal as an institution. “It’s not just smart sense financially, but it fits with our mission. For years and years we’ve had the model of scholar service. Of the Houghton grads I know… they tend to have a bent and passion for serving others,” stated Spear. Houghton plans to use LRAP as a tool to engage students who are already interested in Houghton for other reasons, but who are held back by worries about finances. As Marshall Green, Community and Public Relations Specialist, said, “That’s not our selling point for this school. That’s an advantage to coming here on top of who we are as Houghton. Who we are as a college is our selling point.” In this sense, LRAP is intended provide a kind of safety net for interested students to pursue their passions regardless of income following graduation.
“We’re willing to invest in our students because we believe in the quality of our program and the life they’ll lead after this,” explained Green, “There are lots of other schools doing other things for incentives. Some schools are giving free room and board for the first year, or free books. Those types of incentives are great for that moment, but they don’t help you in the long run. This gives long-lasting security, until the student is either financially secure, or the loans are paid.”