Although, student debt holders have access to helpful services through the government and non-profits, Neil Lloyd, the partner and head of defined contributions and financial wellness research at Mercer, a human resources consulting team, told webinar attendees that employers are turning to student loan contribution programs to not only help alleviate the financial strain on their employees but also attract and retain talent.
With a student loan contribution program (sometimes called an employer-sponsored third-party repayment assistance program or a student loan employer contribution program), an employer partners with a program provider to administer payments to pay down their employees’ student loan debt.
PwC offers a student loan contribution program through Gradifi and Fidelity started its own employer contribution program, but companies offering such programs are a small percentage of employers. Companies providing the benefit offer a student loan refinancing single program or platform, provide direct payments or a student loan 401(k) match, or supply digital assessment tools, according to Lloyd.
The student loan 401(k) match program “indirectly targets student debt,” said Lloyd who then cited pharmaceutical and medical products company Abbott as an example. When Abbott employees contribute at minimum 2 percent of their earnings towards student loan repayments, Abbott makes a 5 percent match to the employees’ 401(k), reported the New York Times.
Lloyd was careful to point out the possible disadvantages to the employer of such programs, including how tedious and costly they can be. He also mentioned a few bi-partisan bills some officials have proposed to incentivize employers and employees to use the programs. In section 127 of the Internal Revenue Code, employees receiving tuition assistance from their employer can get a $5,250-tax exclusion. According Lloyd, bills HR 795, S796 and HR 1656 would extend that tax exclusion to employer payments on employees’ student loans.
The final guest speaker was Alex Smith, the chief human resources officer for the city of Memphis. Smith said the city of Memphis is the only public sector entity to implement a student loan assistance program.
The city has over 8,000 employees it wanted to support and retain, while also positioning itself to attract talent to its organization. It piloted a 90-day tuition assistance program in partnership with program provider Tuition.io in 2017 before it pitched the program to Memphis’ city council to be approved in the following fiscal year.
Once the program was implemented, the city of Memphis discovered that employees across all ages had student loan debt. There are 443 employees in its program; the average age is around 41, the average balance is around $42,000 and its largest number of participants comes from the police division. Memphis police officers earn an average of $56,000 yearly, according to Smith.
“We wish we can do more, but from a budget standpoint we can only do so much,” said Smith.
Smith said Memphis shaved 249 years in payments off its employees’ loan repayment length and helped participants save $232,840.