In total, approximately 43 million Americans owe $1.77 trillion in student loan debt, 42% more than they did just a decade earlier.
With inconsistencies at the federal level causing uncertainty and confusion, many loans continue to accrue interest, highly educated workers face mounting financial challenges, young college graduates become even more disillusioned about higher education, and college still doesn’t get any cheaper.
The one in four U.S. adults with student loan debt, as measured by the Pew Research Center, are still highly privileged — they are the ones who are able to attend costly colleges and universities in the first place.
But even still, Pew reports that 35% of young college graduates with student loan debt say their education wasn’t worth the cost.
While some advocate for broad student loan forgiveness or sweeping reforms to reduce the cost of higher education, in the meantime, others are doing what they can to alleviate the burden more immediately.
Here are three examples of how nonprofits and policymakers are part of the fight to reimagine the cost of higher education.
Pay-It-Forward Loans
Launched by the nonprofit Social Finance, students at the University of Hawai’i Mānoa’s College of Engineering now have a new option to pay for their undergraduate degrees.
The Hawai’i Renewable Learning Fund is a $2.5 million “revolving loan fund” that provides zero-interest loans to low-income college students to cover their remaining education costs after grants and scholarships.
After graduation, if a student borrower earns above $50,000 a year, they pay back their loan through fixed monthly repayments for up to five years. If borrowers earn less than that minimum salary, they can apply for an income-based deferment and have a $0 monthly obligation.
And even better: All repayment dollars are recycled right back into the fund to support future students through a “fixed supply” of financial aid.
More of Social Finance’s pay-it-forward loan programs have already started or will launch soon in states like Colorado, Massachusetts, New Jersey, New York, and Florida, with each program focused on a field of study with high demand and short talent supply, like health care, cybersecurity, or climate.
“Workers are struggling to find education and employment opportunities that lead to in-demand jobs, and businesses don’t have the skilled talent they require,” Social Finance shares on its website.
“We need effective, sustainable innovations to finance training that will help people land good jobs and find economic mobility.”
Filling High-Demand Jobs With Financial Aid
Similar statewide approaches are also solving a two-fold problem: In Louisiana, the MJ Foster Promise Program is a state fund that pays for eligible students to enroll in specific higher education programs that target high-need industries in the state’s workforce.
The program was named after former Gov. Mike Foster, who is considered “the father of the modern community college system.”
In 2021, the state legislature unanimously approved the establishment of the fund, which provides up to $3,200 per year to students enrolled in community college programs that will give them the credentials to work in industries like construction, healthcare, information technology, manufacturing, and transportation and logistics.
With this approach, Louisiana increases enrollment in programs that ultimately have the greatest impact on the state’s economy.
In 2025, state lawmakers voted to increase funding to the Promise Program, based on a wide pool of interest from students.
“This program is No. 1 in helping adults get a job that can sustain a family and make generational changes,” Louisiana Community and Technical College President Monty Sullivan said in an interview with USA Today Network in June 2025. “It’s transformational.”
Volunteering For Debt Relief
For years, people involved in the Peace Corps or AmeriCorps have been eligible for some debt relief awards while fulfilling their service. The Shared Harvest Foundation modeled its student loan debt relief program similarly
The nonprofit’s Shared Harvest Fund is a student loan debt relief program that pairs people with “purpose-driven projects and nonprofits,” rewarding volunteer service with $150-500 per month toward student debt relief.
The organization was founded by three doctors who wanted to pay down their loans while using their specialized skills to make a difference.
Many of the volunteers who use the platform are frontline care workers and other skilled professionals who support short-term projects, especially during emergencies.
Volunteers earn reward points, and when a project is completed, the points are converted into stipends and paid out directly to the volunteer’s student loan lender.
“We believe in something deeply radical and deeply human,” the nonprofit’s website states.
“We’re people who’ve done the hard work in healthcare, caregiving, teaching, organizing, healing, but have been buried under student loans, burnout, and bureaucracy. We're not here to play the old games. We're here to build a new system of worth, where your service is honored, tracked, and rewarded.”
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A version of this article was originally published in The 2025 Education Edition of the Goodnewspaper.
Header image by Bunly Hort on Unsplash
