\n<\/p>\n
To the editor:<\/p>\n
We appreciate the opportunity to respond to the recent opinion essay \u201cDegrees of Uncertainty\u201d (Dec. 15, 2025).\u00a0The author raises important questions about rising college costs, institutional incentives and the risks of oversimplifying complex financial challenges facing students and families.\u00a0\u00a0We are pleased that she recognizes Loan Repayment Assistance Programs (LRAPs) help address affordability challenges and provide many benefits for students and colleges.\u00a0<\/p>\n
However, the author questions whether students should benefit from a guarantee that their college degree will be economically valuable.\u00a0<\/p>\n
LRAPs are, at their core, student loan insurance. It can be scary to borrow large student loans to finance an expensive college degree.\u00a0There is a market failure, however, every time a student does not attend their preferred college, study their preferred major or pursue their preferred career because they are afraid of student loans.\u00a0Students should be free to pursue their passions\u2014not forced into second-best choices because of the cost of the degree or the prospect of a lower income in the future.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n
Society also loses out\u2014especially if the lower-income career a student wants to pursue is a human service profession, such as education, where they will invest in improving the lives of others.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Most purchases come with a warranty or guarantee. Why should college be different?\u00a0Colleges promise to provide value to students.\u00a0We applaud those colleges and universities that stand behind that promise with a financial guarantee.<\/p>\n
As consumers, we routinely insure our biggest risks and largest purchases.\u00a0We insure our homes, cars, boats and lives\u2014and even our pets.\u00a0Why shouldn\u2019t we insure an expensive investment in college?\u00a0<\/p>\n
In any class, we can expect some students will earn less\u00a0than their peers.\u00a0It is reasonable for students to fear being among that group.\u00a0An individual student cannot diversify that risk.\u00a0That is the function of insurance.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n
LRAPs spread the risk across many students, just as insurance does with other familiar risks.\u00a0Most drivers can\u2019t protect themselves from the chance of being in a car accident and facing large repair and medical expenses.\u00a0Insurance spreads that risk, turning a small chance of a very large cost into a small premium that protects against that loss.\u00a0<\/p>\n
LRAPs serve the same function for students\u2014without the cost\u2014because colleges cover the\u00a0program, giving students peace of mind and the freedom to attend their preferred college and pursue their passions.\u00a0<\/p>\n
By doing this, LRAPs are a tool that can help colleges increase enrollment and revenue.\u00a0This additional revenue can be invaluable at a time when colleges face many structural challenges\u2014from regulatory changes to the disruption of AI to declining enrollment caused by the demographic cliff.\u00a0<\/p>\n
LRAPs provide meaningful protection to students while maintaining clear incentives to focus on completion, career preparation and postgraduation outcomes.<\/p>\n
Peter Samuelson is\u00a0president and founder at Ardeo Education Solutions, a loan repayment assistance program provider.\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" To the editor: We appreciate the opportunity to respond to the recent opinion essay \u201cDegrees of Uncertainty\u201d (Dec. 15, 2025).\u00a0The author raises important questions about rising college costs, institutional incentives and the risks of oversimplifying complex financial challenges facing students and families.\u00a0\u00a0We are pleased that she recognizes Loan Repayment Assistance Programs (LRAPs) help address affordability<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":41826,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[57],"tags":[535,8627,19798,2045,678],"class_list":{"0":"post-41825","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-education","8":"tag-college","9":"tag-important","10":"tag-insure","11":"tag-investment","12":"tag-students"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/41825","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=41825"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/41825\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/41826"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=41825"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=41825"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=41825"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}