With the average new college graduate holding roughly $35,000 in student loan debt—and even more for those with a graduate degree—employers are looking for ways to help ease this financial burden. Although the Society for Human Resource Management’s 2015 Employee Benefits survey showed that just 3 percent of employers offer to help employees pay down their student loan debt, a growing number of employers have announced they will be offering this benefit in the future, and more are thinking about providing it.
“Student loan repayment benefits help with recruiting, retention, engaging employees and driving loyalty in ways that other programs do not,” said Chris Duchesne, vice president at EdAssist, an education benefits company based in Watertown, Mass.
