Public Affairs

Paying Off College Debt Through Public Service

The North 103.3 | By Lisa Johnson

Published March 8, 2016 at 1:25 PM CST

Two years ago, the Project on Student Debt reported that 76% of UMD grads in 2014 had student loan debt and the average amount was $31,244.

With numbers like that, it's no wonder programs like 2007's Public Service Loan Forgiveness Program are getting a second look.

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Lisa Johnson

Lisa Johnson started her broadcast career anchoring the television news at her high school and spinning country music at KWWK/KOLM Radio in Rochester, Minnesota. She was a reporter and news anchor at KTHI in Fargo, ND (not to mention the host of a children's program called "Lisa's Lane") and a radio reporter and anchor in Moorhead, Bismarck, Wahpeton and Fergus Falls.Since 1991, she has hosted Northland Morning on KUMD. One of the best parts of her job includes "paying it forward" by mentoring upcoming journalists and broadcasters on the student news team that helps produce Northland Morning. She also loves introducing the different people she meets in her job to one another, helping to forge new "community connections" and partnerships.Lisa has amassed a book collection weighing over two tons, and she enjoys reading, photography, volunteering with Animal Allies Humane Society and fantasizing about farmland. She goes to bed at 8pm, long before her daughter, two cats, or three dogs.

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