…Oh. I’ve missed that part, then. (I actually recall reading it at some reasonably-recent point but must have forgotten.)
I guess this means the really blatantly meritorious cases (and/or the most blatantly poverty-trap ones, and/or the ones that look most like the local governments are actively conspiring against them) would get offers to the effect of “OK, you’re clearly not getting that far out on your own before you accidentally starve or something and even if it’s not that bad we don’t want to just wait until you get there by sheer luck alone, so we’ll try to get you some money under a nice short, oh let’s say 144-year loan, and hopefully you repay that there’d be serious trouble for you if you don’t”. Maybe some of the less clear cases get similar offers but with slightly harsher terms.
…there might also be quite a few other lolrandom (by Earth standards) projects getting sponsorship offers with similar loan setups, but that’s more of a Post-Contact Hilarity matter.