Graduates want student loans to disappear. Wisconsin wants our talented young people to stop disappearing from our state. StageW™ wants both, and we have a plan. It’s called W-Alive.™ StageW plans to bring WisconsinAlive™ with young thought leaders, future business leaders and job creators.
Here’s how it works: Graduates come to Wisconsin and work a minimum of six uninterrupted months and Wisconsin applies 100% of their state income tax to paying down their student loan. Pretty simple! For example, instead of paying $3,135[1] in tax, a graduate making $50,000 pays down $3,135 in student debt. Pretty sweet.
Here’s why we do it: Our population is aging; our young people are leaving; our medicaid costs are increasing; our education budgets are decreasing to cover the shortfall — these trends are clear, however, plans to reverse these trends are not clear.
Young people are valued here! If Wisconsin backs up that statement with a real financial incentive, young people will flock here. They’ll buy houses, tailgate and eat bratwurst here. They’ll camp, fish and hunt here. They’ll fall in love, have kids and retire here. The people who already live here know there’s nowhere better on earth to live, work, play and stay than right here in Wisconsin. It’s okay…we can share our best-kept secret now.
Time to share: If you like our plan, share this email with all of your friends. Share our Facebook posts. Share your voice. Share some resources and contribute to our mission. StageW is a grassroots non-profit organization. You help us make progress possible.
[1] Assumes a state income tax rate of 6.27%.