Gutierrez hasn't tapped into PwC's retirement benefits yet. She's more concerned with paying off her loans. "I'm also paying off a car payment, and I wanted to make sure I could save up as much as possible right now to be comfortable when my loan payment began," she said.
Despite enthusiasm from workers, adoption and implementation has so far been slow. PwC announced its program earlier this fall, but it doesn't plan to funnel money into employees's accounts until July. "It's pretty complex," said Tuition.Io's McQueen. "[For] employers who don't have this ... it's super-hard to build products that are outside of their core business." Some companies are also waiting to see if the benefit works before they promise it to employees.
Like many trendy benefits, this perk will help only a small, elite portion of the workforce. Over the next three years, however, Elliot predicts that debt repayment, on some level, will become as common as health benefits.
"It's a big-ass problem: $1.3 trillion is a big number." said Gradifi's DeMello, referring to the national student debt balance. "These types of initiatives are going to really help."