IDOT targets young engineering talent with student loan assistance

SPRINGFIELD, Ill. (Capitol News Illinois) — The Illinois Department of Transportation announced this week it will soon repay up to $60,000 in student loans for eligible employees over four years as part of an initiative to lure recently graduated engineers in an increasingly competitive job market.

The Higher Education Student Loan Repayment Assistance for Engineers Pilot Program will reimburse 50 Illinois-educated engineers up to $15,000 annually after four years of service at the agency. IDOT hopes to incentivize young talent to remain in the state and the field, citing data from the American Council of Engineering Companies that shows a national shortfall of approximately 20,000 engineers per year due to retirements or departures from the field.

“At a time when workforce challenges continue to impact the engineering industry and public sector alike, this initiative will help attract and retain the next generation of transportation professionals needed to deliver critical infrastructure projects across Illinois,” Kevin Artl, president and CEO of ACEC Illinois, said in a statement announcing the initiative.

The student loan repayment program is the latest effort by Gov. JB Pritzker and the state to spur economic growth by retaining young talent. In February, the Illinois Retail Merchants Association launched an apprenticeship program for emerging Illinois retailers, and late last month, Pritzker announced public and private partnerships with computing giant IBM that will bring 500 apprenticeships to the company’s new innovation hub located in Chicago’s quantum park.

The program is funded by IDOT, with funds allocated as part of the Pritzker administration’s ongoing Rebuild Illinois efforts and paid out as bonuses. Rebuild Illinois has made significant investments in Illinois infrastructure projects since fiscal year 2020.

Massive infrastructure investments augment engineering needs

State-employed engineers are needed to support the Rebuild Illinois infrastructure program, passed in the first year of the Pritzker administration in 2019 and continued since then. The latest six-year plan calls for investing $50.6 billion in infrastructure, including $32.5 billion for transportation projects exclusively: the construction and maintenance of roads, bridges, public transit, freight and passenger rail, aeronautic facilities and ports.

This is not the first time IDOT has targeted young engineering talent. Last year, the agency implemented an “Intern to Hire” program meant to attract college students to civil engineering internships with the department by providing direct pathways to full-time employment.

The need to fill engineering positions at IDOT is also driven, in part, by federal legislation encouraging new projects. In 2021, President Joe Biden signed the $1.2 trillion Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, which allocated over $17 billion to Illinois public works projects over five years.

“We have more projects than ever at IDOT right now, thanks to the capital program and funding at the federal level,” Guy Tridgell, director of communications for IDOT, said. “And we need engineers to do that work.”

According to IDOT data, the state has invested over $24 billion in Illinois highway projects through Rebuild Illinois since the 2020 fiscal year. The state hopes young engineers will take advantage of these new jobs incentives and meet the demand for continued infrastructure investment.

Public sector recruitment for the long term

In addition to helping accomplish what Rebuild Illinois set out to do, Tridgell hopes the student loan repayment incentives will inspire young engineers to pursue long-term careers in public service.

“We’re aggressively taking a look at a variety of strategies to get young engineers, in particular, to come and work for the state,” Tridgell said. “It’s a good career — you learn a lot about the profession and you can make a real difference in your community.”

Sen. Ram Villivalam, D-Chicago, initially sponsored legislation calling for the program. He said he hoped the incentives would encourage students to pursue engineering careers with reduced financial pressure.

“We know that access to higher education is challenging,” Villivalam told Capitol News Illinois. “So making sure that young students and folks looking at different career opportunities understand that there are tools available to them to make it more affordable, make it more accessible to pursue a career in engineering.”

Republican Leader proposes scholarships amid delay

In addition to the Pritzker administration’s IDOT loan repayment program, Republicans are also working to assist the creation of new engineers for the state.

Senate Republican Leader John Curran, R-Downers Grove, is a lead sponsor of Senate Bill 3855, which would create scholarship and living stipend incentives for engineering students attending Illinois public universities at the front end of their higher education careers. Curran supports the student loan repayments in addition to his own proposal, but noted that the repayments have been delayed.

“I’m glad they’re moving forward with it. It’s well past time,” Curran told Capitol News Illinois. “We are behind on capital.”

Similar to the student repayment plan, Curran’s scholarship bill requires eligible students to commit to working for IDOT for at least three years. He argues that scholarships would unlock more opportunities for students and help assuage financial concerns that arise from college decisions sooner.

“It is a way to help not only lock them in early, but also a pathway to pay for school,” Curran said. “It’s a win-win.”

Curran’s bill was assigned to committee and is currently awaiting a hearing, with a deadline of Friday.

Aidan Klineman is an undergraduate student in journalism with Northwestern University’s Medill School of Journalism, Media and Integrated Marketing Communications, and is a fellow in its Medill Illinois News Bureau working in partnership with Capitol News Illinois.

Capitol News Illinois is a nonprofit, nonpartisan news service that distributes state government coverage to hundreds of news outlets statewide. It is funded primarily by the Illinois Press Foundation and the Robert R. McCormick Foundation.

This article first appeared on Capitol News Illinois and is republished here under a Creative Commons Attribution-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.