An Act to Amend the Social Work Education Loan Repayment Program (L.D. 632) gives Maine an opportunity to start fulfilling its promises to its social workers.

Maine’s social workers are the lowest paid in New England, with several competing states having the advantage of hefty student loan forgiveness programs. For each social worker that Maine loses to another state, Maine also loses the impact of caring for thousands of people over the course of that social worker’s career. Social workers need to be able to live and support their families, which is not possible on low wages without loan forgiveness. Scholarships no longer pay for college; most college is now paid for with loans, especially at the graduate level.

The Department of Labor expects the nationwide need for social workers to grow by 9% between 2021 and 2031. Maine needs to become competitive with other states. Student loan forgiveness is not the only answer, but it must be part of the equation.

L.D. 632 makes sense because money talks. With its natural beauty and good people, Maine has much to offer, but there is currently little incentive to move here from out of state. Without loan forgiveness, Maine is just too expensive for many social workers to live here on the low wages offered. Expanded loan forgiveness makes sense if Maine wants to attract the social workers it so desperately needs.

Alicia McConkey
Bangor