While both current US President Donald Trump and Wall Street are quick to boast about America's low unemployment rate and a steadily booming economic ecosystem, most students may be quick to roll their eyes.
That's because, despite an improved economy, college students have still yet to gain higher wages once they graduate, let alone find an immediate solution to the massive college debt they've acquired from studying at the university. In fact, per Fortune, federal student loans are the only consumer debt segment with cumulative growth that is continuous ever since the Great Recession. To provide a clear number, throughout the span of 11 years, student loans have seen an increase of about 157 percent. All in all, there's around $1.4 trillion in federal student loans out there, making it the second largest household debt segment in America, just behind mortgages.
A new benefit
This rather overwhelming problem is the main reason why more and more companies are offering to help their employees with debt relief as a new benefit. Kronos, for example, a human resources software company based in Chelmsford, is one such example.
Presently, the company gives their employee around $500 a year to help their employees that are new graduates pay off their student debts. Furthermore, the company also recently championed a refinancing program that can help steer their workers in the right direction.
For one of their employees, Sarah Sheehy, this is a huge help and only adds to her loyalty to the Company.
According to her, "My student loans are excessive. I was paying almost $1,000 a month."
This reason, along with better employee engagement, is what Kronos CEO Aron Ain is expecting. According to him, today's competitive business market asks for better benefits in order to guarantee better employee retention and seeing as student debt is a massive problem, lending a hand in that department gives them an edge over other companies.
In fact, it's a growing trend among financial companies, one that can create a long-lasting impact a few years down the line. And with around 70 percent of college graduates, today having some form of debt, repayment benefits from a company will definitely do a big help.
Of course, for now, only a small percentage of companies are offering this type of benefit, yet if it continues, then it's not much of a stretch to see more companies adopting this practice a few years from now.
