Transforming Your Education Financing Benefits Beyond Tuition Reimbursement

Compensation outside of salary is an important part of attracting and retaining your workforce. With more and more employees expecting financial wellness support in addition to wages, employers need to keep up if they want to remain competitive.

A key way to stay on top is to offer education financing benefits beyond tuition reimbursement – and it’s simpler than ever to get these benefits up and running.

As the cost of education rises and the student debt crisis persists, it’s critical to provide educational support to your staff. Here’s why education financing benefits are important and how you can implement them.

The Student Debt Crisis Affects Your Workforce

The Student Debt Crisis involves millions of borrowers owing $1.77 trillion in student loan debt – an average of $41,618 per person. This debt follows borrowers well past their time in college and is often a decades-long burden, causing many in the workplace to struggle with finances throughout their careers.

Employees on your staff are amongst those with debilitating student debt – or are hoping to keep their loved ones from sinking into debt – and there’s a good chance it’s impacting their work.

Education financing benefits make a difference

Personal finances are the biggest stressor across both the public and private sectors, hurting employee well-being, satisfaction, retention, and productivity.

Luckily, you have the power to lower employee stress and foster a healthier and happier workforce. Become an employer applicants are fighting to work for by enhancing your company’s culture of support through education financing benefits.

Create an informed employee retention strategy

See what your return on investment could look like when offering a Student Loan Repayment Benefit

See your return

Tuition reimbursement is not enough

Though many employers offer tuition reimbursement, that benefit is only valuable for current students and assumes employees can afford to shoulder the cost of courses upfront.

It’s important to have education financing options for employees in all walks of life, including those paying off past debt or looking to save for future education for themselves or their loved ones.

Let’s get into two impactful education financing benefits beyond tuition reimbursement: employer student loan repayment assistance and 529 educational savings plan contributions.

Student Loan Repayment Assistance

One of the key ways employers can reduce employee stress is to help pay off their student loan debt.

Student loan payments take a significant chunk of your employees’ paychecks, making money tight and heightening personal financial stress. This prevents employees from reaching goals like parenthood and homeownership, causing them to seek higher compensation elsewhere.

Providing student loan support offers immediate relief, positively impacting employees in both the short- and long-term.

Why you should offer Employer Student Loan Assistance

• Nearly half of employees say personal financial stress impacts their productivity
• 1 in 3 employees who don’t have employer student loan assistance say it’s the benefit they want the most
• Only 14% of companies offer student loan assistance, making those who provide it highly attractive

By offering a student loan repayment benefit, employees get the financial support they need to pay off their education and let them live more comfortably, improving their overall wellness.

Want to learn more?

• Applicants Expect Student Debt Relief from Employers
• 6 Reasons Employer Student Loan Assistance Will Remain a Game-Changer
• Employer Student Loan Repayment: The Ultimate Guide

529 Educational Savings Plans

Some employees don’t have student debt and aren’t currently in school – but that doesn’t mean they can’t use education financing support. For them, offer 529 educational savings plan contributions.

529 plan funds can be used for your employees or their loved ones and grow tax-free so every penny goes toward education. Adding to college savings shows you’re invested in their future and lets them put more of their paycheck toward other goals like retirement.

Why you should offer 529 Plan contributions

• Employees save 75% more when funds are deposited directly
• 3 in 4 employees would continue their education if their employer contributed to educational savings
• Children with even $1 saved are more likely to go to college, helping to foster the future of the workforce

Offering 529 savings contributions gives employees peace of mind when it comes to providing for themselves and their families. Those who aren’t worried about the future can spend more time on the present, improving workplace outcomes.

Want to learn more?

• What is a 529 Plan? The Secret Weapon for College Savings
• Offering 529 Plan Contributions as an Employee Benefit: A Guide for Employers

Round Out Your Benefits with Paidly

Paidly supports overall financial wellness, making it easy to adapt to all your employees’ educational needs.

Streamline education financing benefits

Manage student loan repayment assistance and 529 plan contribution benefits from one easy-to-use, secure platform. Plus, Paidly takes care of collecting employee financial information and handling the payments so you can prevent an HR nightmare.

Get started in minutes. Implementing employer student loan repayment and 529 plan benefits has never been simpler:

1. Create a Paidly account: sign up by sharing basic company info
2. Invite eligible employees: give us the list and Paidly will collect and verify employee financial information
3. Schedule contributions: choose the amount and frequency of payments and Paidly will distribute funds directly to loans and savings

It’s really that easy. And Paidly offers real customer service to both you and your employees so there’s always someone there to answer questions and provide assistance.

Empower community support

When you work with Paidly, your employees not only get streamlined employer support, they also gain a powerful tool to engage with their wider network.

Every account includes the ability for employees to crowdfund support directly to their student loans or 529 plans – making it effortless for their communities to help lower personal financial stress, giving your benefit that much more impact.

Ready to get started?

A Student Loan Repayment Benefit expert is ready to help.

Talk to an expert

Paidly provides flexible education financing solutions to help both past and future students. Talk to an Expert to see how quickly you can get started with Paidly.