The Kansas University Endowment Association is helping launch a new loan forgiveness program designed to bolster Topeka’s work force.

The program is a partnership with the city of Topeka and pays off student loans for KU graduates who work in certain fields in the capital city.

“It’s a unique situation,” said John Scarffe, a spokesman for the Endowment Association. “It could very well serve as a model for other cities or other counties to consider doing something like that.”

The program — dubbed Advantage Topeka — was officially created during a signing ceremony Wednesday in Topeka.

The city of Topeka will create a trust fund that will include city appropriations and private donations to help pay for the program. The Endowment Association will provide matching funds.

Students who graduate from Shawnee County high schools and attend KU can receive $2,500 in loans per academic year, or a maximum of $5,000 in loans for their college careers. Each year of loans will be forgiven for each year a KU graduate returns to work in Topeka in certain high-need fields.

Those fields include construction, transportation, installation, maintenance, repair, computers, engineering, architecture and health care.

“We proposed this as a way of assisting students to get the education they need and fill critical needs in our community,” said Ruth Maus, a city of Topeka spokeswoman. “It’s a win-win situation.”

Scarffe said it was too early to know how many loans the Endowment Association would offer, or how soon the program would begin.

“Ultimately, it’s going to be good for the students and for the city of Topeka,” he said. “People may return to Topeka who would have gone somewhere else.”