A new survey conducted among recent college graduates currently working full-time sought to gauge employee attitudes towards student loan benefits programs. The findings provide insights into just how valuable these benefits are by those respondents whose employers offer repayment programs—and how attractive they are to respondents from companies who don’t.
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Here we provide some highlights of the survey report, What Do Young Workers Think About Student Loan Repayment Benefits?, from Millennial Personal Finance.
Only 19% of the 500 employees surveyed said that their employer offered a student loan repayment benefit. Of those who reported their employer had such a benefit, 46% reported that the monthly benefit was between $100-$199, while 25% said the benefit was between $200-$299 per month. Twenty-one percent reported that their benefit was under $100 and just 8% reported their benefit was over $300.
Over in 8 in 10 (84%) of all respondents said they would strongly consider a potential employer who offered a student loan benefit over an employer that did not. A slight majority (53%) answered “yes” when asked if they would consider a salary cut in order to receive the benefit.
What’s more, many of these young employees indicated that they would be willing to forgo other traditional benefits in order to have a student loan repayment benefit. One third (33%) would be willing to give up retirement benefits; 23% would give up health care benefits; and 38% would forgo dental benefits. Notably, nearly half (46%) indicated they’d give up paid time off (PTO) benefits in order to receive student loan repayment assistance.
The survey covered other topics, including respondents’ support for H.R. 795, the Employer Participation in Student Loan Assistance Act, which would incentivize companies to offer the benefit.
For full survey results and analysis, visit MillennialPersonalFinance.com.