Reigniting Opportunity for Innovators
From Portsmouth to Conway and across the entire nation, student loan debt is preventing the next generation of entrepreneurs and innovators from starting their own businesses. A New York Times report highlighted that the percentage of new entrepreneurs between 20–34 years old fell to 25 percent in 2014, down from almost 35 percent in 1996. And Gallup found that 19 percent of graduates with student loan debt say they have delayed starting a business because of it.
It is time to once again unleash the entrepreneurial potential of our young people into creating the jobs of the future. That is why last week I introduced the Reigniting Opportunity for Innovators (ROI) Act, the first bill I introduced as a United States Senator, which would help provide the relief necessary for young entrepreneurs to start up and grow innovative small businesses.
The ROI Act will allow eligible founders and full-time employees of certified small business to defer their federal student loan payments and interest accrual for up to three years while launching a start-up. This will help give graduates the financial stability they need to take the risk of starting a business that can create good-paying jobs.
This legislation also provides an additional incentive for start-up companies to move off the beaten path to help revitalize struggling communities. If the start-up is located in a priority area for economic development, founders and employees will be eligible for cancellation of up to $20,000 in student loans. New businesses located in many areas of Northern New Hampshire, including the Greater Conway and Mount Washington Valley area, would qualify for this type of loan forgiveness.
At a roundtable discussion I hosted this week at the Women’s Rural Entrepreneurial Network in Bethlehem, I heard from Kirsten of Colebrook. Kirsten is working to get her own marketing business off the ground, but on top of all the other challenges of starting her own business, she’s also still trying to pay off her student loans. Kirsten told me that student loan forgiveness programs in the public sector provide powerful incentives, and explained how valuable it would to have similar incentives for entrepreneurs.
During another discussion I held at the University of New Hampshire Entrepreneur Center (ECenter), I met an entrepreneur named Tom. Tom is launching a start-up to improve broadband access in rural areas, including several areas across our state. When he graduated in 2015, Tom was facing student loan debt that was higher than his rent — and was forced to put his project on hold in order to take a full time job.
Now that he’s back at UNH getting a Master’s Degree, Tom is continuing to work on his start-up, but he fears that the reality of his student loan debt will mean that he will have to suspend his efforts once he graduates. He said it would be devastating if he had to give up on this idea — which could generate jobs and improve communities — because of his student debt.
Any entrepreneur will tell you that getting a small business off the ground is expensive. These costs, mixed with student loan debt, make it even more daunting for young entrepreneurs to consider taking the leap of starting a new business.
With the deck too often stacked against them, we need to be doing everything we can to support young entrepreneurs, like Kirsten and Tom, looking to start the innovative businesses that will drive job-creation and move our economy forward.
The ROI Act is an important step that we can take now to help young entrepreneurs and lay the foundation for a new generation of economic growth, and I look forward to working with members of both parties to pass this common-sense bill.
Read more about the ROI Act here.
