Got college loans? You’re not alone. More than 40 million Americans have some form of student debt. Repaying loans is never easy, but making monthly payments can be even more challenging on entry-level salaries.
Employers primarily provide benefits for healthcare and retirement plans. Some also provide elective benefits, such as transportation costs and even pet insurance. However, few employers offer benefits that help employees better manage their student loan debt. In order to retain an educated workforce, more employers must explore opportunities to offer benefits that support personal financial management.
In a July 2015 survey, iontuition asked 1,000 student loan borrowers if they would like to work for a company that offers student loan repayment assistance, including matching contributions and loan management tools. Seventy-five percent of those surveyed said yes, which could equate to 30 million Americans with student loan debt.
Fifty-five percent of the loan holders surveyed said that they would rather see their employer health benefit contributions go toward paying off student loan debt. And forty-nine percent would prefer student loan payment contributions over a 401(k) at this point in time.
Iontuition recognizes that employers and employees alike could benefit from a tool that will help them better manage their education debt. That’s why we’ve developed a platform, which is now available for businesses to incorporate into a broader benefits package. At iontuition.com, employees use a variety of modules including:
- ionManage to optimize their repayment across Federal and Private student loans, engage with expert loan counselors, and receive critical alerts about changes to their loan profile.
- ionLearn to build financial literacy around education finance as well as including identity theft, proper credit management, and a range of personal finance topics.
- ionMatch to select colleges and universities by degree type, field of study, location, and estimated post-graduation income—using real-world salary data—so that they can achieve ROI on their education.
Find out how your business can add iontuition™ to your benefits program.
