曾经是法学院的主打项目，贷款偿还援助计划如今在本科教育中正逐渐受到重视。
Once a mainstay of law schools, loan assistance repayment programs are gaining traction in undergraduate education.
随着越来越多家庭担忧大学教育是否值得其高昂的成本和债务负担，更多学校开始帮助低收入至中等收入的毕业生偿还学生贷款。
As more families worry whether a college education is worth the costs and the debt, more schools are helping graduates with low-to-moderate incomes pay off their student loans.
自20世纪80年代起，法学院便利用这些贷款偿还援助计划（通常称为LRAPs），鼓励学生投身公共利益事业。如今，各类学院纷纷推出此类项目，旨在让本科毕业生在步入职场时拥有更多喘息空间。
Law schools have used these loan repayment assistance programs, commonly known as LRAPs, since the 1980s to encourage students to pursue public-interest careers. Now, a wide range of colleges are launching the programs to give undergraduates some breathing room as they enter the workforce.
这已成为学院在争夺日益减少的高中毕业生源时的招生工具，也是激励学生完成学业、按时偿还贷款的诱因。
It has become a recruitment tool as colleges compete for a shrinking pool of high school graduates, and an incentive for students to complete their education and stay on top of their loan payments.
今年秋季，明尼苏达州圣玛丽大学开始向大一新生和转学生提供一项承诺：如果其毕业后收入低于6万美元，这所天主教大学将承担其部分教育债务。
This fall, Saint Mary’s University of Minnesota began offering first-year and transfer students a guarantee that if their postgraduation income is under $60,000, the Catholic university will cover a portion of their education debt.
该项目名为“红雀承诺”，将报销毕业生在联邦贷款、私人贷款及“家长PLUS贷款”上的部分还款额，直至毕业生收入超过该门槛或贷款还清为止。学生无需付费即可报名享受该福利。毕业后，他们必须每周工作至少30小时，并按时偿还贷款。
The program, dubbed the Cardinal Pledge, reimburses a portion of payments on federal, private and Parent Plus loans until a graduate’s income exceeds the threshold or the loans are repaid. Students sign up for the benefit at no cost. After graduation, they must work at least 30 hours a week and make timely payments on their loans.
“我们有相当数量的学生感到有使命感，想要投身服务、教育、非营利组织或其他薪酬不高的领域，”圣玛丽学院招生管理副校长迈克尔·麦克马洪说。“这个项目只是提供了一个关键的安全网，让他们能更有信心地追求这一目标。”根据教育部的“大学记分卡”数据，约61%的圣玛丽学院本科生获得联邦学生贷款，毕业后的中位数总债务约为20500美元。该校2026-2027学年的总在校费用超过6万美元，但该部门测算，扣除奖学金和助学金后的平均年均价格为20422美元。
“We have a significant number of students who feel a vocation to careers in service, education, nonprofits or other fields where compensation isn’t high,” said Michael McMahon, vice president for enrollment management at Saint Mary’s. “This program just offers a critical safety net so they can feel more confident about pursuing that purpose.”About 61 percent of Saint Mary’s undergraduates receive federal student loans, and the median total debt after graduation is roughly $20,500, according to the Education Department’s College Scorecard. The school’s total cost of attendance for the 2026-2027 academic year is more than $60,000, but the department pegs the average annual price after scholarships and grants at $20,422.
18岁的奥利维亚·克拉克在暑期收到关于“红衣主教承诺”的邮件时，觉得好得不像是真的。直到她在新生入学指导期间听完一场介绍，才真正相信了这个项目。
When Olivia Clark, 18, received emails about the Cardinal Pledge over the summer, she thought it was too good to be true. The offer didn’t sink in until she sat through a presentation during freshman orientation.
主修小学教育的克拉克报名参加了该项目，尽管圣玛丽学院的奖学金和父母的积蓄支付了今年的学费。她说，她的大学基金不足以支撑四年，最终还是需要借贷。
Clark, who is majoring in elementary education, signed up even though scholarships from Saint Mary’s and her parents’ savings paid for school this year. She said her college fund can’t cover all four years, and she will eventually need to borrow.
“有一个可以依靠的东西……并且知道不会背负沉重债务，这让人很安心，”克拉克说。“我知道毕业后开始任教时，手头不会有多少闲钱。这项承诺给了我安全感，让我知道债务不会阻碍我。”八年前，圣玛丽学院在阿迪奥教育解决方案公司的帮助下推出了一个规模较小的还款援助项目，此次再次求助于这家位于印第安纳州的公司来管理最新的担保计划。
“It’s reassuring to have something to fall back on … and to know I won’t be buried in debt,” Clark said. “I know I won’t have much money to spare when I graduate and begin teaching. The pledge gives me that security to know debt won’t hold me back.”Saint Mary’s launched a smaller repayment program eight years ago with help from Ardeo Education Solutions, and turned to the Indiana-based company again to manage its latest guarantee.
阿迪奥为270多所高校运营LRAP（贷款偿还援助计划），其中80所向本科生提供还款福利。阿迪奥创始人兼总裁彼得·萨缪尔森表示，针对本科生的此类项目在过去一年里增长了约20%。
Ardeo runs LRAPs for more than 270 colleges and universities, 80 of which offer the repayment benefit to undergraduates. Ardeo founder and president Peter Samuelson said programs targeting undergraduates have grown roughly 20 percent over the past year.
“过去几年，我们看到兴趣真正激增了，”萨缪尔森说，他受到自己作为耶鲁法学院贷款援助计划受益人的经历启发。“高校正在应对人口结构变化、毕业生减少、无休止的政策变动……这让很多人产生了兴趣。”高校平均每名借款人每年向Ardeo支付1000美元——这笔费用旨在覆盖项目的管理成本，其运作方式很像保险。费用覆盖一群借款人，前提是并非组内每个人都会需要援助。这样，资金就足以支持确实需要帮助的毕业生。
“The last couple of years we’ve seen a real pickup in interest,” said Samuelson, who was inspired by his own experience as a beneficiary of Yale Law School’s loan assistance program. “Colleges are dealing with the demographic change, fewer graduates, endless policy changes … and that makes a lot of people interested.”Colleges pay Ardeo on average $1,000 per borrower per year — a fee designed to cover the administration of the program, which operates a lot like insurance. The fees cover a pool of borrowers, with the understanding that not everyone in the group will need the assistance. That way, the money is enough to support graduates who do need the help.
田纳西州贝尔蒙特大学招生服务副总裁克里斯·盖奇说，自该校还款计划启动18个月以来，已有40多名学生报名参加。该计划仅限于135个学术专业中约10个专业的本科生，反映了该校专注于传统薪资较低的领域。
At Belmont University in Tennessee, a little over 40 students have signed up for the school’s repayment program since it launched 18 months ago, said Chris Gage, vice president for enrollment services at the private university. The program is limited to undergraduates in about 10 of 135 academic programs, reflecting the university’s focus on fields that have traditionally offered lower pay.
根据大学评分卡，贝尔蒙特大学毕业生的收入中位数为56202美元，仅略高于还款计划55000美元的门槛。联邦数据显示，贝尔蒙特大学平均每年净成本为32648美元，约三分之一的学生申请了联邦助学贷款。
According to the College Scorecard, the median earnings of a Belmont graduate is $56,202, just a hair above the repayment program’s $55,000 threshold. Federal data shows that about a third of students at Belmont, where the average net cost is $32,648 a year, take out federal student loans.
虽然该校提供慷慨的经济援助，但其在还款计划上的投入引发了一个问题：这笔钱是否更适合用于提供更多奖学金，以减少借贷需求。盖奇说，过去四年贝尔蒙特大学增加了经济援助预算，贷款还款担保是对增加的校内援助的补充。
While the university offers generous financial aid, its investment in the repayment program raises the question of whether the money would be better spent on more scholarships to lessen the need to borrow. Gage said Belmont has upped its financial aid budget over the last four years, and the loan repayment guarantee complements the increased institutional aid.
他说：“这只是工具箱里的另一个工具，帮助让贝尔蒙特大学成为学生的现实选择。”
“This is just another tool in the toolbox to help make Belmont a realization for students,” he said.