More Companies Offering Student Loan Repayment Benefits

Those employees will also have access to an evaluation of their existing loan portfolio that provides information about loan forgiveness programs and other options, including refinancing of their student loans. The Empower/CommonBond solution, which is expected to launch later this year, will also be available to IRA customers, according to Empower.

The integrated retirement and debt program solution is "mutually beneficial to workers and their employers," said Edmund Murphy, Empower Retirement president and CEO.

Indeed, a 2017 survey from American Student Assistance (ASA), a nonprofit organization that helps eliminate financial barriers to education, found that 86% of respondents would commit to staying with their employer for five years if their employer helped them repay their student loans. The survey also found that student loan repayment was the third most desirable employment benefit after health insurance and a 401(k) match.

Despite these shared interests and the exploding level of student debt, just 4% of employers offer a student loan repayment program, according to a 2018 survey from the The Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM). But interest in such benefits is growing, according to a recent study by Guardian Insurance, as employers work to attract and retain younger workers.

In March the Travelers Cos. announced they would introduce a program that provides matching 401(k) contributions to employees who are paying down student debt even if those employees aren't contributing to the 401(k) plan. A private letter IRS ruling allowing a similar program at Abbott Laboratories paved the way for more such programs.

On Capitol Hill, Sen. Ron Wyden, D-Ore., the ranking member of the Finance Committee, introduced the Retirement Parity for Student Loans Act in December. It would provide employees who are paying down student loan debt the same matching contribution they would have qualified for if they had made the contribution to their 401(k) plan.

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