
Goodly replaces office perks with student loan repayment - hemantv
https://techcrunch.com/2019/03/27/student-loan-benefits/
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cbhl
You know what would be great? Someone should combine this with 401k
contributions/matching, and make it opt-in by default.

Let's say everyone gets, say, $250/month ($3000/year). If you have student
loan debt, it goes to repay that first. If you're done, it goes to your 401k
first, and then after that it goes into After-Tax 401k. If you can afford to
contribute from your paycheck, then that additional amount gets matched at,
say, 100% up to 1/3rd of the 401k limit, and 50% up to 2/3rds, both for the
loan repayment, and for 401k saving.

Literally implement the /r/personalfinance flowchart as an auto-opt-in-perk.

(That said, I strongly believe folks should pay down credit cards before
making above-minimum-payments on their student loans, since credit cards
typically charge more interest.)

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hemantv
Would love to do this but you can't discriminate in 401(k) contributions based
upon other benefits.

Certainly worth looking into.

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qntty
Why is this better than giving employees a $1200 higher salary and saving on
the $6/mo fee? I understand that people are irrational and like benefits like
this, but is there a tax benefit too?

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dragonwriter
> Why is this better than giving employees a $1200 higher salary and saving on
> the $6/mo fee?

It is better, from the employer’s perspective, because it is a new way to
slide age discrimination under the radar.

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labster
How is it age discrimination? There are tons of people in their 40s and 50s
still paying off student loans.

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defertoreptar
"Looking at the age group breakdowns from the Federal Reserve Bank of New
York, there are more borrowers under 30 years of age than there are in any
other age bracket." [https://www.valuepenguin.com/average-student-loan-
debt#age](https://www.valuepenguin.com/average-student-loan-debt#age)

~~~
labster
I'm glad I asked this question, because there's a lot of interesting data in
response. If you look at the long-term trends in the data, student loan debt
is exploding in every age group in America.

> Student loan debt for borrowers 60 and over has increased by 1,256% since
> 2004

And the end of the graph shows that the number of borrowers in each cohort is
roughly the same size as the the number in a younger cohort ten years ago.
Some of this is population and college admissions growth, but it also suggests
that student loans are becoming a permanent condition, not something you
expect to pay off.

I acknowledge that it's age discrimination to offer this benefit (in
isolation) for now, but as time goes on that will no longer be the case. The
system is set up so that you need a degree to get a job, and you need to work
until retirement to pay off the degree to get that job. Unless you're lucky
enough to come from a family with wealth, of course.

~~~
dragonwriter
> I acknowledge that it's age discrimination to offer this benefit (in
> isolation) for now, but as time goes on that will no longer be the case.

Well, yeah, once the current student lending system collapses or is abolished
in the next decade or so, the age dynamics will probably reverse temporarily
if a general forgiveness isn't part of the resolution.

But then, offering the benefit won't be as attractive.

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freyir
Age discrimination as a service?

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paxy
If this is age discrimination then so is health insurance, but that is
completely acceptable?

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thaumasiotes
From a legal perspective, yes. Age discrimination in favor of older workers
has never been frowned upon. It is unlike race/sex discrimination, in which
all directions are notionally equally bad.

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delfinom
So what about those of us that don't have student loans? Do we get shafted on
benefits?

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scarface74
What if you could use it for tuition reimbursement?

Companies have all sorts of benefits that don’t help everyone like subsidized
family medical coverage. My company offers a decent tier of completely
subsidized health insurance whether it is just you or you have a family with
10 dependents. They pay more for family coverage than individual coverage.
Also paternity/maternity leave.

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ianferrel
This seems crazy to me. $70+ a year for something that you can just set up
once with your loan servicer?

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dbg31415
This just seems like age discrimination to me. A subtle way to cut benefits
and discourage people who are over 30 from wanting to work at your company. Am
I wrong?

What benefit does this have to people without student loan debt? Can they
still have gym reimbursements and free sodas?

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wpdev_63
Or you know could just hire employees who don't have college degrees as having
a degree doesn't mean much now.

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paulcole
HN comments when a company does something awful, "This is terrible!"

HN comments when a company does something nice, "This is terrible!"

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dang
I think this is more how humans in general behave on the internet. There's a
strong impulse to point out what one notices (usually some perceived flaw or
weakness), and critical comments always attract more upvotes. With those two
axioms and a lot of iteration, you end up with a pretty negative environment.
Upvotes are probably the greater problem.

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m23khan
i accidentally read it as 'Google replace office perks with student loan
repayment'!

