Employers can play a role in helping employees with their student loan repayment needs, and many are doing just that.
According to the Education Data Initiative, student loan debt in the U.S. has reached $1.777 trillion, with 42.7 million borrowers faced with the need to repay the loans they used to at least partially fund their educations. The average amount of those loans (both federal and other) is $41,618, with 4.86% of borrowers in default at the end of 2024.
The Student Loan Repayment Landscape
The first major impact on student loan repayment occurred during the pandemic under the Biden administration. Since then, the US federal government has suspended student loan payments and interest accrual multiple times, ending in October 2023 when the first payment after previous pauses was due.
But requirements for these payments continue to be up in the air under the Trump administration.
For instance, in March 2025, Forbes reports, “Trump signed an executive order March 7 that seeks to limit the Public Service Loan Forgiveness program, which allows public servants to be eligible for loan forgiveness after 10 years of service, saying in his order that employees who work for organizations opposed to his policies—like groups that support transgender rights or undocumented immigrants—should not be eligible for the loan forgiveness.”
However, this move requires Congressional approval so, for now, impacted borrowers aren’t yet affected.
Another program that many borrowers took advantage of—the SAVE Plan—is also somewhat up in the air. The Biden administration plan lowered borrowers’ monthly payments based on their income.
The plan, though, was blocked in February 2025, and many believe it is not likely to be reinstituted.
There are several ways that employers can build student loan relief into their benefits plans. ADP, for instance, says that some of the most common variations are:
- Recurring payments—employers pay the employee’s loan through regular installments.
- Signing bonuses—new employees receive a lump sum to go toward their student loans upon hire.
- PTO exchange—offering employees the opportunity to receive cash for unused PTO to be applied to student loans.
Providing student loan relief as part of the benefit plan can be a good way to attract and retain employees. In doing so, though, it’s important to ensure that it’s done in a way that doesn’t disadvantage or dissatisfy other employees who may not have this debt.
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