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Nikita Lenahan always knew she wanted to work in early childhood education. What she wasn鈥檛 sure about was how she would pay for her education. She decided to pursue her passion, but she had to rely on student loans through college. 

In 2022, she opened her own nature-based childcare program called Bambino University, in Proctorsville, Vermont. Her program was thriving and Lenahan was doing work that she loved, but the financial stress of her student debt 鈥� which she said was about $35,000 鈥� weighed heavily on her. 

Then she got an email about a state program that would repay student loans for early educators who worked in Vermont. She applied and received $4,000 to go toward her loans, a process she said was 鈥渋ncredibly easy,鈥� which she credits to the helpfulness of the staff at the Vermont Association for the Education of Young Children who administer the program. Following her first award in 2022, Lenahan applied for and received three additional payments of $4,000 鈥� one each year 鈥� that have helped reduce her debt. She went back to school and earned a master鈥檚 degree and is now pursuing a doctorate degree in education. The loan repayment program has been 鈥渉eaven-sent,鈥� she said, and she has been encouraging her staff to apply as well. 

鈥淚t is getting harder and harder every day to be in this field,鈥� said Lenahan. 鈥淭he requirements to be in early education are getting to be more and more, and the pool of people we are going to be able to bring in is going to get smaller and smaller.鈥� Repaying student loans, she said, alleviates some of the stress that comes along with taking on debt to get an education to be qualified to work in the field. 

Lenahan is one of the 196 recipients that have received an award from Vermont鈥檚 , which provides up to $4,000 annually to full-time educators who’ve earned an early childhood-related degree to help reduce their student debt. The program was created by the state legislature in 2021, and began awarding reimbursements in 2022. To date, the state has issued over 275 awards to early childhood educators, totaling more than $1.8 million, according to Beth Wallace, director of engagement at VTAEYC. The total student loan debt held by the program鈥檚 awardees exceeds $9 million, said Wallace

To be eligible for the debt relief program, applicants must have a degree in early childhood education or a related field, and make an income under $60,000 a year, though Wallace said VTAEYC is currently considering recommending a raise for the income limit. Initially, the program provided debt relief for early educators with an associate or bachelor鈥檚 degree in early childhood education, but in 2023,the benefit was extended to cover a master鈥檚 degree as well. According to data from VTAEYC, loans accrued from earning a bachelor’s degree receive over 60% of the awards. While a recipient can reside in another state and have received an out-of-state education, they must intend to work at a licensed center- or home-based childcare program or a Head Start program in Vermont for 12 months. 鈥淭he intention is to keep teachers in the Vermont programs,鈥� said Wallace.

Wallace said other states have reached out to inquire about the debt relief program. She stresses that the program is most effective when used in tandem with other supports for early childhood educators, including early childhood apprenticeships, tuition assistance, grants and scholarships. Wallace characterizes student loan reimbursement as a retention device, rather than a recruitment tool to bring new entrants to the profession. 鈥淚t’s catching them after they have received a degree,鈥� she said.

As of 2025, and Washington, D.C. offered some kind of scholarship to offset the cost of education for early educators, according to the National Early Care and Education Workforce Center, but student loan repayment exists in fewer states. Massachusetts, for example, has a that began in 2026 with plans to award educators with up to $7,500 for their student loan repayment per year. Over 400 early educators applied this year; the review and notification process is underway.聽

Massachusetts has slightly different criteria than Vermont: preference for loan assistance is given to applicants who work in communities predominantly serving children and families with high needs, or in regions with a shortage of early education and care slots. Unlike Vermont, the student loans must be accrued from a school within Massachusetts, and the educator must reside in state, with an agreement to stay in their role for another year after receiving the award. The program in Massachusetts pays the funds directly to the loan service provider, whereas Vermont鈥檚 program cuts a check to the educator. The two states also have vastly different budgets: Massachusetts鈥� program was from the state budget in 2025. Vermont鈥檚 program is funded through the state鈥檚 Child Development Division and has an annual budget of approximately $600,000, though for the first two years they had been able to access American Rescue Plan funds, explained Heather Martin, VTAEYC鈥檚 director of analytics and impact. 

Amy Kershaw, commissioner of the Massachusetts Department of Early Education and Care, said the student loan repayment program intends to meet the needs of early educators, particularly those who have been in the field for several years and want to stay, but are feeling financial stress from student debt. In 2024, the department looked into data from , a state loan repayment program which was open to health and human services professionals more broadly and found that 80% of applicants were early educators. 鈥淭his helped us identify this need specifically as one of the unique challenges in early education and care,鈥� Kershaw said.

Curran McSwigan, deputy director of the economic program at Third Way 鈥� a national think tank and advocacy organization 鈥� who has studied such programs, has found that childcare workers tend to have the same amount of debt, on average, as professionals with other degrees but because they have lower compensation levels, 鈥渋t becomes a much larger burden,鈥� she said. 

鈥淲e see it as a tool to address barriers that workers are facing in the space,鈥� McSwigan said of student loan repayment. 鈥淐hildcare providers face a lot of financial concerns, and we need to be looking at the larger picture to create a sustainable pathway in the field for economic opportunity.鈥� 

She added that any programs supporting early childhood educator compensation needs sustainable year-over-year funding to prevent budget shortfalls later on. 鈥淭he family policy space is always the first thing on the chopping block,鈥� McSwigan said. 

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