With a little help from her employer, PricewaterhouseCoopers, 23-year-old Elaine Florentino will pay off her student loan debt a year early and for $8,000 less than she initially anticipated.
Florentino, who has a bachelor’s degree in accounting and a master’s degree in taxation from Bentley University, is taking full advantage of a trendy new employee benefit to pay off her $57,000 in student loan debt.
“When you graduate and you’re straight out of college, you’re kind of the only one carrying that burden,” Florentino told Business Insider. “When someone helps you, it makes you feel appreciated.”
This is one perk you don’t want to miss if you’re staring at mountains of student loan debt. Here are seven companies that help employees pay off their student loans.
1. PricewaterhouseCoopers
Consulting and accounting firm PricewaterhouseCoopers, also known as PwC, offers employees monthly payments toward their outstanding student loans. The company will contribute $100 a month for six years or until the employee becomes a manager, whichever happens first. Michael Fenlon, global talent leader at PwC, told Business Insider he expects the program to shave off two to three years of payments for employees.
2. Kronos
Software company Kronos offers employees $500 a year toward their student loans, according to Fortune. The company is partnering with Student Loan Genius, which helps workers make their student loan payments via the company’s payroll system and helps them with repayment plans.
3. Connelly Partners
Connelly Partners, a Boston-based advertising company, contributes $100 per month to employees’ student loan payments. The company offers a $1,000 lump-sum student loan payment signing bonus for new employees who stay with the company for at least six months. Connelly Partners also contributes an additional $1,000 when employees celebrate their fifth anniversary with the company.
“One of the things you have to do when you’re running an agency of young people is be empathetic to their problems and stresses,” Steve Connelly, president at Connelly Partners, told Digiday. “Most of these kids cannot even start thinking about their future because they’re so saddled by their college debts.”
4. Fidelity Investments
Fidelity Investments is offering employees $2,000 per year in student loan payments. The total contribution amount is capped at $10,000, according to the company’s website. This new perk is already a hit with current and prospective employees.
“Internally, we couldn’t have signed up fast enough,” Amanda Danner, a corporate actions analyst at the company, told Forbes. “It was great to feel our voices were heard and our needs considered. Externally, my friends and peers keep asking, ‘Are you hiring?’ at the mere mention of the program.”
5. NVIDIA
NVIDIA, a California-based tech company, offers its employees $6,000 in reimbursement for student loans each year. The total reimbursement amount is capped at $30,000, according to the company’s website. The company will pay $500 per month or an employee’s monthly loan payment amount, whichever is less, directly to the loan servicer. The benefit is only available to full-time and part-time U.S. employees–sorry interns, but you’re out of luck, unless of course, you land a full-time job after your internship!
6. Aetna
Insurance provider Aetna jumped on the student loan repayment bandwagon in August, when the company announced it would help out employees who have graduated since Dec. 1, 2013. The company will match full-time employees’ student loan payments up to $2,000 per year, for a lifetime total of $10,000. For part-time employees, the company will match up to $1,000 a year with a cap of $5,000.
“As a health care company with a vision of building a healthier world, Aetna takes a holistic view of employee well-being–one that includes physical, mental, social, and financial health,” according to the company’s website.
7. Memorial Hermann
Memorial Hermann, a non-profit hospital system serving Houston, offers its employees a student loan repayment benefit on a case-by-case basis. Ann Hollingsworth, a human resources executive for Memorial Hermann, told the Houston Business Journal that full-time and part-time employees who earned a degree within the last three years are eligible. Employees must also commit to stay with the health care organization for two years after the final loan repayment, she said.
Related: 3 simple student loan tips from Common Cents:
About the Author
Sarah Kuta is an award-winning writer and editor based in Colorado. She writes regularly about how to find deals, save money and find side gigs. Reach her at sarah@dontwasteyourmoney.com. More.
