Universities Weblog

Activists say the multimillion-dollar program, passed unanimously last month by Maine's House of Representatives and with little opposition in the Senate, is the first of its kind in the nation. They also said it is only the sixth time in the state's history that an initiative introduced by a citizens' group had been passed by the legislature.

"I believe in this legislation, and I know that it is the key to opening up opportunity for Maine's students," Baldacci said in a statement. "This is about our generation helping the next one. We're telling our students: If you live, work, and pay taxes in Maine, you're not going to have this student debt hanging around your neck."

The program helps reimburse loans for any resident who earns an associate's or bachelor's degree in Maine and then lives, works, and pays taxes in the state. It also allows employers to make the loan payments and claim the credit.

The tax credits would amount to a maximum of $2,100 per year, or $8,400 total, for a graduate who spent four years at a Maine college.

Over the past year, the activists who support the program collected 73,000 signatures, enough to send the proposal to voters as a referendum in November. But the Legislature bypassed the referendum process and passed the bill in the final days of its 2007 session.

Maine needs the program because more than 50 percent of the nearly 7,000 students who earn associate's or bachelor's degrees there every year leave the state for an extended period, according to Opportunity Maine, the group that launched the initiative.

Many students who earn bachelor's degrees leave the state because they graduate with an average $22,301 in loans, said Andrew Bossie, president of Opportunity Maine.