LOUISVILLE, Ky. — Denisse Alvarez is paying for college while still in it. After considering student loans, she heard about the UPS Kentucky LOOP and Metro College programs. 

"After hearing about this program it was not an option anymore," Alvarez said as she stood on the runway outside the massive UPS Worldport at Louisville Muhammad Ali International Airport. "It was like, I have to go there. I cannot waste this chance of getting debt free."

At any given time, 2,000-3,000 students from Jefferson County Technical College and the University of Louisville are working through one of the programs at the UPS Worldport; which pays for part-time work, full undergraduate tuition, and a $325 per month housing stipend. Now, that stipend is available to all.

"The Kentucky LOOP program is a benefit of Metro College," UPS Talent Acquisition Specialist Jeffrey Elder explained. "They used to be separate programs in the past. Now we kind of combined them together. Every student that works out here at Worldport that’s inside Metro College is eligible for Kentucky LOOP."

That means even students who lives at home around Louisville get the stipend. For Alvarez, the hard work now – and it is hard work – is going to pay off big time when she graduates.

"It feels like a little relief that I don’t have to pay after for college," she said. "I want to be done. After college, I want to be done paying for it."

Alvarez is finishing her second year at JCTC and plans to transfer to Louisville in the fall for criminal justice. Tuition paid to both schools is covered by her work program at UPS. She then intends to go to law school.