Angela Ploysangngam, a 2023 UVM graduate who now works as a postbac researcher at the Larner College of Medicine, received a stipend from the Green Mountain Job Retention Program as part of a program that provides student loan relief to graduates from Vermont higher education schools who commit to living and working in Vermont for two years after graduation. She said the program influenced her decision to stay in Vermont for a second year.
“When I was informed that I was receiving it, I was already planning on working in Vermont for at least the first year after graduating,” Ploysangngam said. “And then I think when my first year of full-time work ended, I think it was definitely a convincing factor in helping me stay in Vermont that second year.”
In the lab, Ploysangngam’s work focuses on muscle function and how changes on a molecular level can impact muscles. Her time working in research in Vermont is a key step toward her future goals.
The program verifies graduates live and work in Vermont full-time after one year of work. Recipients get $2,500 the first year and another $2,500 the second year, sent directly to their loan servicer.
Ploysangngam said the program helped her determine her career path. “Overall, it’s definitely helped me figure out that I’d like to go into, go to med school, which is my plan,” she said. “I think these past few years in Vermont living and working here outside of being a college student has convinced me that I want to move back to Vermont later on and live and work in Vermont,” she said.
The Green Mountain Job Retention Program is a partnership between the state, UVM, and the Vermont Student Assistance Corporation.