Student Debt in 2025: Essential Benefits for Recruiting and Retaining Top Talent

BY Tabitha Cabrera | April 03, 2025

The student debt landscape has undergone rapid change in the past four years, with new repayment options, proposed forgiveness programs and further shifts anticipated under the new presidential administration. According to BestColleges, public college tuition increased an average of 5% a year between 2001 and 2021. 

During a From Day One webinar, John Harold, head of sales and partnership success at SoFi at Work, shared the big picture of student loans, the student debt crisis, and how that’s affecting employees. SoFi at Work is a division of SoFi, a company known for pioneering student loan refinancing and being a one stop shop for your financial needs. 

“Student loans are now at $1.7 trillion, a crisis in the United States, with over about 25% of Americans holding student debt,” said Harold, making the topic especially pertinent. 

As the workforce not only accumulates more student debt for degrees and advanced degrees, student debt programs can have a large factor in which position to take. “62% of private sector employees indicate that student debt influences their job decision,” said Harold. Additionally, “56% of employees spend three or more hours a week thinking about their finances, including student debt, and then, 36% of employees with student debt are less likely to remain with their employer than those without student debt, meaning if you have student loans, there’s not some sort of benefit, you’re less likely to stay if you don’t have student debt,” he said.

The workforce is not unfamiliar with student debt associated with higher paying salaries within industries but even with the enticement of higher paying salaries through education student debt often becomes a great concern when seeking employment and staying within an organization. 

Employer Help With Student Debt

Harold outlines four things employers can do to support their employees with student debt. 

The first is education, “giving employees access to guides, articles, webinars, with areas for them to ask questions.” The landscape of student loans is consistently changing, and employers can provide updates to their employees to keep them informed about the rapid changes in the student loan policies. 

Harold of SoFi spoke with journalist Emily McCrary-Ruiz-Esparza (photo by From Day One)

Second is advice, and third is navigating student debt, Harold says. Providing counseling around student debt, such as talking to a student loan specialist. Sometimes the most impactful conversations are those that provide a variety of answers to a hard pressed question, like ‘What should I do with my student loans? Which payment plan is right for me?’ 

The fourth step is refinancing. Saving money whenever possible, whether by refinancing your student loans, consolidating them, or securing better terms, is essential.

Often student loan borrowers are released into the workforce not fully understanding the options in front of them regarding payment plans, reimbursement, and loan forgiveness, employers can bridge the gap by providing resources to their employees. 

Offering Student Loan Benefits

Looking at the objectives of the company can provide the answer to these questions, says Harold. “We can help you evaluate student debt within your workforce, and then based on that you know, what are your objectives?” Companies can look at if they are having trouble recruiting a specific population or retaining a specific population, or do you want to just offer broader financial or student debt and financial well-being benefits. 

The percentage of companies offering student loan repayment benefits has doubled, jumping from 17% to 34% by the end of 2023, according to research. Currently, employers can offer up to $5,250 combined in tax-free student loan repayment and tuition assistance per employee through 2025, with the Consolidated Appropriations Act. Student loan repayment can create a strategic advantage that helps strengthen employee loyalty. 

The amount of changes in student loan repayment options, changes in the governmental role, rising cost in education, and gravity of stress related to finances provides an avenue for employers to harness benefits for employees that center around the mounting financial concerns including student loan payments. 

“Student debt is worsening and employees need help now. The government is incentivizing employer action and reducing support directly to borrowers” Harold said, encouraging employers to take action. “Companies that are offering student debt benefits gain an advantage in recruitment and retention–and SoFi makes it simple,” he said.

Editor's note: From Day One thanks our partner, SoFi, for sponsoring this webinar. 

Tabitha Cabrera, Esq. is a writer and attorney, who has a series of inclusive children's books, called Spectacular Spectrum Books.

(Photo by Inna Kot/iStock)

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