AUGUSTA Maine
With applause filling his office, Gov. John Baldacci signed on Monday what’s described as the nation’s most far-reaching law to keep the state’s best and brightest from fleeing after graduation by offering tax credits to reimburse their college loans.
“The eyes of the nation are looking at Maine,” said Justin Alfond of the League of Young Voters, which helped push the Opportunity Maine bill that was enacted with a historical flourish before the legislative session closed in late June.
The law, described as Maine’s version of the GI bill that was signed by President Franklin D. Roosevelt 63 years ago, attempts to end a “brain drain” of Maine college graduates to other states in search of better pay to meet the demands of their college loans among other expenses.
It provides tax credits to reimburse educational loan payments for any Maine resident who earns an associate degree or a bachelor’s degree in a state college or university and then lives, works and pays taxes in Maine after earning that degree.
Opportunity Maine offers an option allowing a Maine company that hires a Maine college graduate to take the credit if it assumes the former student’s loan debt.
While other states have similar proposals and programs that target people in specific careers such as teaching, Maine’s new program is believed to be the nation’s most far-reaching, said Tony Giampetruzzi, Opportunity Maine spokesman.
