It is unsurprising that the total student loan debt in the U.S. has continued to climb in 2020, with people from marginalized groups typically taking on more student loan debt than other borrowers.
Top employers across North America are adopting Student Loan Assistance programs into their 2021 benefits offerings in an effort to position themselves as great places to work in the new year.
The reasons employers are offering Student Loan Repayment in 2021:
To attract talent
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- 33% of U.S. workers (and 55% of Millennials) say Student Loan Repayment is a “must have.”
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To retain talent
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- The Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM) reports that 86% of employees say they would commit to a company for five years if the employer helped repay student loans.
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To improve diversity
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- Google cites the disproportionate impact of student debt on women and communities of color as a driving factor behind their new student loan repayment offering. “On average, Black college graduates have $25,000 more in student debt than white graduates four years after completing a bachelor’s degree,” John Casey, Google’s Director of Global Benefits said in a recent blog post.
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The reasons employers are offering some form of Student Loan Assistance, such as Resources or Refinancing in 2021:
To improve financial wellbeing amongst employees
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- When financial stress is present at work, companies can lose approximately 27 productive work days and see around 12.5% lost payroll costs annually (as a result of lost productivity, rehiring and retraining).
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To brace for the end of the payment holiday on 12/31/2020
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- Following the upcoming resumption of monthly payments on student loans at the end of 2020, employee borrowers will be seeking assistance on their student loans more than ever.
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To be ready to offer Repayment in the future
So, how should employers design a Student Loan Assistance program to address their specific needs in 2021?:
Click here to view the three most popular Student Loan Assistance plan designs and schedule a program initiation call today.
As of today, 8% of companies include Student Loan Assistance benefits in their benefits offerings (that’s up from 4% in 2018). These early adopters are certainly onto something, as it is predicted that companies across the country will continue to adopt Student Loan Assistance benefits into their own offerings with increasing precedence in the coming years.
The types of employers offering Student Loan Assistance in 2021:
Many employers in essential industries, such as healthcare, retail and wholesale, are adopting the benefit in an effort to attract and retain essential workers.
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- Earlier this year, Instacart announced plans to expand their shopper community by 300,000, citing an expansive set of employee perks including Student Loan Assistance as a key differentiator.
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Employers in technology, finance and professional services are also offering this benefit in an effort to better engage a largely remote workforce.
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- Companies like Medix and ProService Hawaii offer Student Loan Assistance as a way to bolster engagement amongst their employees.
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