Essay On Student Loan Benefits

Repayment, a Most ‘Desirable’ Benefit

For this assignment, I was given the opportunity to research and broaden the spectrum and knowledge of the field of Total Rewards, Compensation & Benefits. My task was to find a current event, topic, law, etc. from World At Work Association research. The article that I was chosen must correlate and show that the topic and resources used enhances the knowledge, understanding and application total rewards.

The article that I chose to discuss was Repayment, a Most “Desirable” Benefit. The article was about recent college graduates and those who still have student loans to repay. The article discuses how student loan repayment is becoming very popular benefit that employers should consider and recent graduates

These benefits are 401K and Healthcare. Recently, student loan repayment has become very desired and valued to employees. Many employees are seeking jobs that have some sort of student loan repayment benefits. A survey was conducted by Beyond stated that, “89% of job seekers believe that companies should offer student loan repayment in their benefit package”. Of those surveyed, 10% believe that student loan repayment is the “most important” benefit. It is a very competitive field for job seekers, but currently it is a buyer’s market. Job seekers are becoming more selective in their job seeking journey. These unique benefits have started to become very popular, especially to recent graduates. Joe Weinlick, who is the senior vice president of marketing at Beyond said, “The hiring landscape is not as bleak as it was, and in a highly competitive market, companies offering innovative benefits such as student loan reimbursement may have a leg up on the competition. In addition, student-loan reimbursement could help retain Millennials, who have been famously less loyal and more likely to switch jobs than previous

Of those surveyed, 58% believe that receiving student loan repayment in small increments in each paycheck would be most enticing. Another 29% wish to receive a negotiated amount after the end of each year. The last 13% said they would prefer a lump-sum payment after a certain work anniversary. As I stated above, it is a buyer’s market which means job seekers are becoming more selective and have multiple companies to choose from. Ultimately the one with the best pay including unique benefit packages are becoming the “winners”.
As a current college student, this article resonated with me because I am in the same boat. I might not be applying for jobs with benefits just yet, but It definitely gives me something to think about. I remember having a discussion in class about benefits and how pay is not just salary based. If a person makes a salary of $50,000 a year, they can expect to add an addition $15,000 worth of benefits that their employer offers/pays them which makes the overall Total Rewards package