Aging States to College Graduates: We’ll Pay You to Stay

Mohamud Diini’s office is bare but for a single plant and posters of the Boston Celtics and the college in nearby Burlington from which he graduated in the spring with a degree in business administration. It’s not just because he’s had this job for only a few months that the space is otherwise so empty. To Diini, it’s surprising that he’s here at all. Diini planned to bolt for somewhere warmer after he graduated from Champlain College, such as Atlanta or Charlotte, North Carolina. But there was one thing in Vermont that pulled him back: a new program that is paying him $2,500 a year toward the $20,000 of student loans he owes as long as he stays and works in the state for at least two years.