Imagine stacks of $100 bills stretching from Earth past the International Space Station — that’s the staggering reality of America’s $1.77 trillion student debt crisis. Heather Jarvis, executive director of Fosterus — a nonprofit that helps employers administer loan assistance programs — joins host Monique Akanbi to unpack how this burden affects today’s workforce and why employer-sponsored loan repayment programs are a win for both employees and organizations. Together, they explore how expanding access to these benefits can help close equity gaps across race, ethnicity, and gender. They also share tax-advantage strategies for offering cost-effective support. This podcast is approved for .5 PDCs toward SHRM-CP and SHRM-SCP recertification. Listen to the complete episode to get your activity ID at the end. ID expires August 1, 2026. Subscribe to Honest HR to get the latest episodes, expert insights, and additional resources delivered straight to your inbox: https://shrm.co/voegyz --- Explore SHRM’s all-new flagships. Content curated by experts. Created for you weekly. Each content journey features engaging podcasts, video, articles, and groundbreaking newsletters tailored to meet your unique needs in your organization and career. Learn More: https://shrm.co/coy63r
Imagine stacks of $100 bills stretching from Earth past the International Space Station — that’s the staggering reality of America’s $1.77 trillion student debt crisis. Heather Jarvis, executive director of Fosterus — a nonprofit that helps employers administer loan assistance programs — joins host Monique Akanbi to unpack how this burden affects today’s workforce and why employer-sponsored loan repayment programs are a win for both employees and organizations. Together, they explore how expanding access to these benefits can help close equity gaps across race, ethnicity, and gender. They also share tax-advantage strategies for offering cost-effective support.
This podcast is approved for .5 PDCs toward SHRM-CP and SHRM-SCP recertification. Listen to the complete episode to get your activity ID at the end. ID expires August 1, 2026.
Subscribe to Honest HR to get the latest episodes, expert insights, and additional resources delivered straight to your inbox: https://shrm.co/voegyz
---
Explore SHRM’s all-new flagships. Content curated by experts. Created for you weekly. Each content journey features engaging podcasts, video, articles, and groundbreaking newsletters tailored to meet your unique needs in your organization and career. Learn More: https://shrm.co/coy63r
[00:00:00] Monique Akanbi: Welcome to Honest HR. I'm your host, Monique Akanbi, coming to you from SHRM 25, our annual conference here in sunny San Diego, California. It's no secret the innovative benefits such as student loan assistance can drive employee engagement and create a competitive advantage in today's workforce. However, successfully implementing these programs requires a deep understanding of the strategy, execution, and impact of them joining us today to shed light on this topic is Heather Jarvis, one of our speakers here at SHRM 25, and the executive director of Fosterus, a nonprofit organization assisting employers in administering loan assistance programs.
Welcome to Honest HR Heather.
[00:01:00] Heather Jarvis: Thank you. It's my pleasure to be here.
[00:01:03] Monique Akanbi: To start things off, I want to get a better understanding of the scope of the student loan debt here, and how extensive it is.
[00:01:13] Heather Jarvis: You know, it would be no exaggeration to say that student loan burdens for Americans is the biggest financial burden of our time.
There is $1.77 trillion in outstanding student loan debt and it affects 43 plus million people in the United States. And you know, when you talk about a trillion, it's really hard to like visualize what that is like. These numbers are so big and I read some stuff like if you think about a hundred dollars bill, right, the size of like a hundred dollars bill and how flat it is.
If you started stacking up a hundred dollars bills, you get to about the height of a chair, like three and a half feet. That right there is about a million bucks, right? You would have to stack all the way up to the height of the tallest building in the world. It's in Dubai, by the way, to get to a billion dollars with a B.
Now, when you're trying to think about what a trillion dollars is. You have to start thinking about outer space when you're stacking a hundred dollars bills. Do you remember when you were like 10 years old and like your uncle would say, what do you wanna be when you grow up? You know? And did you ever have that astronaut phase where you were like, I wanna be a astronaut and go to outer space?
I know I did. Right? So the International Space Station is like 250 plus 260 miles above. The Earth and if you're still stacking a hundred dollars bills to try to visualize what a trillion dollars is. A trillion dollars is two and a half times the height of the International Space Station up in the air.
630 miles worth of a hundred dollars bills stacked up on top of each other. Student loan debt is gonna be like four and a half times as high as the International Space Station. Yeah, because most countries, help people pay for college in different ways, and we used to have a different kind of investment in higher education in the United States, but we have, what we have now is a debt-based system of access to higher education.
So if you wanna get education beyond high school, you have to pay for it. And if you don't have the cash money from your family, you have to borrow. There are scholarships and grants available, but Pell grants from the federal government are tiny and they barely move the needle like you. You get like three days, three weeks of higher education from free money or what we call gift aid.
And beyond that, it's borrowing. And so especially like if employers want to recruit people who have achieved higher education, bachelor's degrees, master's degrees, especially professional degrees. Those, education programs are super expensive and people come out owing 30 grand, a hundred grand, 300 grand, and the way that the interest accrues on that kind of debt, like it's not the amount you borrow that you have to pay back.
You have to pay back the amount you borrow plus a whole bunch of interest.
[00:04:31] Monique Akanbi: Yes, I know firsthand.
[00:04:34] Heather Jarvis: So do I. You know, I'm first generation college educated, and so my sister and I, we borrowed and my sister has a PhD, I have a JD and I, left outta Duke Law School owing $150,000, and if you owe a hundred thousand dollars at a 6% interest rate, what that means is that.
500 bucks a month is what you have to pay just to tread water and keep owing a hundred thousand. You don't reduce the principle balance of your loan at all unless you pay all the interest that's accruing. So it's insane.
[00:05:08] Monique Akanbi: Yes. According to SHRM's, 2025 employee benefits survey, about 8% of organizations offered student loan Pro benefits, in this, in that, in this year.
So in 2025, does that number surprise you that only 8% of organizations are offering. Student loan assistance to their employees.
[00:05:28] Heather Jarvis: You know, it is low, but it's not shocking to me. And I, and we're definitely seeing it increase and we will see it increase. and I think what the good news is, I think awareness is really building among employers.
It because their employees are talking to them and letting them know, how significant this student loan burden is to them.
[00:05:49] Monique Akanbi: So I have a question for you. and giving the overwhelming student debt, What are some key advantages for employers who choose to offer student loan assistance as a part of their benefits package?
[00:06:04] Heather Jarvis: Well, it really helps an employer stand out among their competitors. So if you're working in a competitive job market, you want to, have benefits that are gonna recruit. Employees and this issue is top of mind for folks, especially younger people. And so it helps you to stand out. It helps you to recruit, it helps you to retain people.
'cause it's really a loyalty builder if you have a student loan benefit. So it really shows your employees that like you get it, and you care.
[00:06:33] Monique Akanbi: Yeah. so we know that student loan doesn't affect everyone equally. and. SHRM representation, your presentation, sorry. Your SHRM presentation includes, some powerful stats on how is disproportionate, how it disproportionately affects borrowers.
By race, ethnicity, and gender. Can you walk us through some of those, points of data?
[00:06:59] Heather Jarvis: Yeah, absolutely. So starting with race, so when you look at bachelor degree holders, white Americans, that you're gonna have borrowing rates, about seven in 10 people will borrow at least something to pay for their bachelor's degree.
When you're talking about black Americans, it gets much closer to nine outta 10 people That have to borrow to pay for a bachelor's degree. And of course we can think about the reasons for why this is, it has to do with generational wealth. It has to do with the racial wealth gap. It has to do with the fact that people who don't have family resources.
Are going to have to borrow. Right. Because as we were discussing before, it's a debt based system of access. it's also true, you know, that black Americans typically have to have more education to get the same jobs. Yeah. and so it's, just super expensive and it's more expensive for people who are not white.
same thing goes for the, gender inequities. So women do tend to borrow, at significantly more money than men borrow, and they also borrow at higher rates. And when we think through why that may be, has to do with things like the, wage gap, gender wage gap for women, and also the reality that women often tend to have a lot more caregiving responsibilities within families and communities, which makes it harder to earn money and pay cash for school.
And I think that's why we see the inequities in borrowing that we see.
[00:08:31] Monique Akanbi: So given those disparities, how can student loan repayment assistance programs help close that gap and help organizations build a more diverse and inclusive workforce?
[00:08:43] Heather Jarvis: Well, you know, so the student loan benefit, it's not just a benefit, it really is a tool for trying to close those gaps that we just talked about.
'cause it directly impacts the racial wealth gap and the gender disparities in earning by reducing the inequities in borrowing that we talked about. So if you're helping people pay their student loans, you're helping, Recruit and retain a diverse, educated workforce. And it's also merit based because you're hiring people who have, educations that you want for the positions that you're looking to fill.
[00:09:21] Monique Akanbi: Yeah. I love that you say it's a tool, right? And so rather than. Just having a program or, approaching it from having just that competitive advantage. Ultimately, organizations that offer these programs are contributing back to society by closing that gap, that wealth gap.
[00:09:39] Heather Jarvis: That's exactly right. So, yeah, so it has both, you know, internal and external impacts that are positive, you know, for your organization. That, and also for, our country. That's exactly right.
[00:09:50] Monique Akanbi: So, Heather, your presentation also mentions that job postings, that include student loan benefits have doubled since 2019. So we're talking pre pandemic.
how can HR professionals position their organizations to remain competitive in attracting top talent? What recruitment strategies work best to highlight these benefits?
[00:10:13] Heather Jarvis: So if you have student loan benefits, you, can stand out. And so you wanna lead with that with your financial benefits because that's what job seekers are looking for, right?
They're looking for a financial benefit from work. And when you have a student loan benefit, it's an add-on. So if you've got it, lead with it in your. Job postings in your social media. It also in, in interviews, you can discuss with the candidates, the benefits that you provide. and student loan benefits really resonate with people, especially, younger people.
[00:10:49] Monique Akanbi: So leading with that benefit, maybe other benefits as well. But from a, standpoint of standing out and creating that competitive advantage. Especially, and I think about when I practiced HR, right? If I was recruiting or if I had a, specific, target group. Let's say my recruiting strategy was to recruit students.
That were just graduating. Right. That would may, that may seem very attractive to them that they're just graduating. And for them, top of mind is, how am I gonna pay off this debt that I've incurred to get this degree? And so maybe leading with that strategy in terms of recruitment is a way to stand out.
That's right. That's exactly right. So what are some HR strategies you would recommend, for effectively communicating the value of student loan assistance programs to employees? So we're shifting now from HR being able, or employers demonstrating the value for employers. For employees communicating that value to employees, especially those who may not be aware that these programs are available to them.
[00:11:55] Heather Jarvis: Right. So it's important to say it early and say it often. so you can do that in all different formats. Like I have seen HR professionals with, you know. Student loan benefit as part of their signature line on their email as a way of getting it out. And also I think a good tool is to do, educational programming about student loans more generally, because when people are very, very stressed about their student loans, what they want is information that they can use to empower them to handle that burden.
And that's a good way to highlight the student loan benefits that you may have. I also think it's important to try to make it. Easy to understand, and really connect it with your employees life goals. because, you know, people want to do things like save for retirement, maybe save for a down payment to buy a home, or they're trying to prepare to be, you know, to have a child or something like that.
So you can really connect the student loan benefit in with kind of their more holistic, larger financial goals that your employees may have.
[00:13:00] Monique Akanbi: So communicate often, communicate early, and so I think that those are two, helpful ways. how do you see student loan assistance working together with other kinds of benefits to help HR teams improve employee retention?
[00:13:18] Heather Jarvis: Well, it's all part of a sort of a larger, benefits package and a way of connecting the reality that people who have student debt are going to find it more difficult to meet their other financial goals. So you can really show the interaction between a student debt benefit and a, for example, a retirement contribution benefit and show the employees how those two things are interrelated.
[00:13:43] Monique Akanbi: Okay. Those are good. and speaking of that, then, are there any tax advantages? Or ways organizations can offer effective student loan than our programs.
[00:13:55] Heather Jarvis: Yes, absolutely. And here's where it gets convoluted and complicated. And so I would urge, you know, HR professionals to, to learn a little bit more about it because it's a great way of.
Selling the idea of a student loan benefit to the leadership or decision makers, but the people who make the budgets within the organizations, because the student loan benefits can have a huge tax advantage over just increasing salaries. So as an employer, if I want you to have more money, I can just.
Pay you more. Right? Right. But then I have to pay payroll taxes on that. As an employer, and you have to pay income taxes on it as an employee. Whereas with a student loan benefit, there's, basically three different, really pretty complicated tax ways that you can structure a benefit. One of them is called, we refer to it as Section 1 27.
That's part of the Internal Revenue Code. This is an important program. There is also for nonprofit employers. So folks that are working for hospitals, charitable organizations, there are tax advantages under a different section of the tax code that you can use that are, is much more flexible than one twenty seven.
We call those one oh eight F plan. So that's complicated. And then there's a third one, that is often referred to as the Secure Act 2.0. This is one where if employers want to, they can match. The student loan payments that the employers are ma employees are making on their student loans by contributing to the retirement accounts, the 4 0 1 Ks, or the 4 0 3 Bs.
The same amounts as what the employees paid, but all these different tax advantaged. Programs have, you know, some pretty intricate compliance requirements where you'll have to do things like, discrimination testing to make sure you're not doing it for the highly compensated employees only, and that sort of thing.
but it's, it is, it's really, really essential for employers to recognize like, this is a cheaper way. Of providing more money in the pockets of our employees and employees get that and you can explain that and say, listen, this student loan benefit directly reduces your debt and doesn't in, doesn't give you a taxable income amount.
[00:16:15] Monique Akanbi: So you've given us a few strategies on how or, the benefits of offering student loan assistance programs. What if I am listening to this, podcast and I'm an HR professional and I decide I would love to offer a student loan assistance program at my employer, my organization, how do I get started?
What would I do? Well, you know, you could
[00:16:45] Heather Jarvis: start simple, right? So I think a good starting place is to survey your employees about their student loan burden. That way you have some data about your folks that you can use to, convince the higher ups that this is what we can do, right? And you can also consider.
Outside vendors who have, the ability to set things up for you without too much of a burden to enter, because you, want it to be administered with like a sort of a minimal lift. And so, I think that's really the way to start is, you know, start out by talking to your employees, figure out what people want, what people owe.
Then talk to the management, make, convince them of the, extraordinary benefits of such a program. And then really start looking at, you know, either external vendors or if you're a small shop, you can DIY it and there's lots of good information available. Course on the internet, that can get people started.
There's consultants, you know, people like me who know a lot about it Who can really you know, help you through, because we don't all have to be experts. Right. Like we, you can't Right. You can't be an expert in everything. Everything. Right, right. Yeah.
[00:17:54] Monique Akanbi: Yeah. So what tools or strategies would you recommend, the HR professionals, they, and those stay in, use rather to stay informed.
About legislative changes that could poten potentially impact, student loan benefits such as public service loan forgiveness.
[00:18:13] Heather Jarvis: There is a lot going down right now. This is a super volatile time when it comes to the student loan world. So you're right, there's potential legislative changes that are being debated in the House and Senate right now.
There are, judicial, cases. There's litigation that's been ongoing that could have significant impacts. And then of course there is the administrative branch, which is going to, make some changes to public service loan forgiveness, potentially, as a result of a particular executive order. And so good ways to keep up on it is really just like, I think you can go for the SHRM alerts.
Could in, could be a great tool for people to stay informed. You can also look at the, department of Education's website has press releases. And so when something really big happens, you can see them there, you can set up alerts for that if you're interested. and, you know, I actually literally just like Google it, right?
Like if you just put student loans into Google and you hit that like news tab, like you're gonna see what is the major news of the day with regard to it. And you'll also notice like your employees are, acutely aware of it. Like folks who have student debt, they are anxious about it. I mean, they are worried about it, understandably.
And so they will know when there's news and they'll have questions. So it is really a good idea to stay informed in these ways, you know? And then again, also, like we said, you don't have to be an expert on everything. There's lots of folks outside your organization who can, you can bring in or talk to, or consult with.
[00:19:49] Monique Akanbi: So Sharma has expressed support for making, employer student loan repayment assistance permanent under section 1 27, which allows tax-free contributions, up to $5,250 annually. why is this legislation so important for both employees and employers, and what impact could this permanence have?
On workforce retention and financial wellness efforts.
[00:20:17] Heather Jarvis: So if, Section 1 27 is made permanent, it'll certainly be, best for employees and employers both. because Section 1 27 is really the, one of two ways that, for-profit organizations can have tax advantage student loan benefits and the permanence really helps, you know.
Comfort employees and employers, both that they can count on this structure so that it's worth investing in developing these programs. and again, it makes it more affordable for the employers to do that. I will also mention though, that if you're a non-profit employer, so if you're a, if you're a not-for-profit, you can access, permanently already, these 1 0 8.
F plans, right, which are less well known than section 1 27 that they've been in existence for a very long time. and those are the sort of programs that my nonprofit helps administer because they, help, build public service for the whole United States, right? To recruit and retain people who want to, give back and work for nonprofits.
Which Ty typically do have lower salaries than what you would find in the for-profit sector. And so it really has a service commitment component that is super beneficial for nonprofit employers and employees alike. And that's already permanent.
[00:21:40] Monique Akanbi: So how can HR professionals assist employees in tracking their progress towards, public service loan forgiveness?
The
[00:21:49] Heather Jarvis: key for public service loan forgiveness is to convince and help your employees to fall to file something called the PSLF form or the public service loan forgiveness form. And the, best way to do it is through the government website, which is student aid.gov. and what the employees need to have from the employer is that federal employer identification number.
So they need the FEIN and they need the email address of whoever in HR or management is tasked with confirming those employees employment status. So what happens is the borrower goes to the website and puts in the FEIN and says, Hey, I work for this organization. There's a database there, and it'll come up.
They'll choose it, and then they will put in the email address and the HR professional will receive a request, official request from the United States Department of Education that says, Hey, go ahead and e-sign this form. and they literally use DocuSign. and that's the very, very best way to do it.
And you sh. Employees should be encouraged to do that annually. and also to do it now, and to take screenshots and preserve records of their student loan progress, forgiveness progress. because we are concerned and have seen already that some information, from government websites is less available than it used to be.
So people should protect themselves by keeping records. Like as a lawyer, like I'm acutely aware that like you're better off if you have paper documents, PDFs, whatever, stuff in the cloud That shows, your progress. Right. Because that way you're, the one who's gonna be able to prove that you've met the requirements.
And so employers can really help, by encouraging their employees to. File the PSLF form and preserve their student loan records.
[00:23:49] Monique Akanbi: Such good information, even for myself. So I'm gonna tell you that now. or even just I have a 20-year-old daughter, right? That's gone through that process as well.
So that is very helpful. so be beyond loan repayment assistance. What other steps can organizations take to address employee financial wellness and reduce stress in the workplace?
[00:24:12] Heather Jarvis: Yeah, there's a lot of different financial programs and benefits you can have. I'm really a big believer in doing like educational programming for staff and employees because a lot of, the reason why we're stressed about money all the time is that it's hard to understand.
Like I, I had no clue what it meant to borrow 150 grand. Like I had no awareness of how that would impact myself and my family. Like, it, it, literally no joke, took me 25 years to repay my, law school debt. And when you have the information, it, you feel much less stress. So I think that the.
Educational programs can be super useful and helpful. I also think, you know, things like budgeting tools, access to like financial planning, emergency savings programs are, a good idea, you know, and communicating all this again, really just shows that as an employer you get it. You understand that like not everybody's rich, and many people, especially folks who borrowed student loans are, working on it with a negative net worth.
And they're trying to climb up to zero before they can start getting into the positive. Into the positive. Exactly. Yeah.
[00:25:28] Monique Akanbi: Yep. What do you see as the future of student loan benefits in the workplace? and are there any upcoming trends or innovations, HR teams? Can, be on the lookout for, or should be on the lookout for?
[00:25:43] Heather Jarvis: Yeah, well, I definitely think we're gonna see a, large increase in the availability of these programs because employers are really right now understanding that these programs are super beneficial and they're wanting to implement them. So I think we'll see a lot of higher rates of, program benefits.
So as an employer, you don't wanna be, slow on that curve. Right? So the trend is. Is to implement these programs. And so the sooner you do it, the better off you'll be in terms of your competitive advantage. I also think we're gonna see more innovations like in the way that student loan benefits are integrated into your larger kind of benefit programs.
I think it's gonna be smarter, and maybe more personalized for the individual employees, which will be a great advantage because each. Person situation is somewhat different and it's really not a one size fits all type of situation. So I think that's the, innovations I would be expecting to see here over the short term and the midterm.
[00:26:44] Monique Akanbi: Anything specific HR team should look out for? outside of just the increase in employers offering?
[00:26:53] Heather Jarvis: Well, you know, I think HR, folks should really, look out for the. The reality is that student borrowers are going to be hit with larger bills. Very soon. They're going to be asked to be making payments that they haven't been used to be paying for a while, and they're gonna be larger payments.
So I think that, I think it's important for HR to recognize that employees are. Are going to be having this top of mind much more so than they have in the last several years since the COVID Pandemic. So there have been a lot of pauses in loan payments that were, very beneficial to people with student loans that allowed them to pay their other bills.
and when you have suddenly, you know, a 300 or $500 increase in the, in what you have to pay out every month. That is gonna provide a stressor for employees and they're gonna look to HR, you know, for solutions. So I think it's a, it's really is a perfect time to come out and say like, Hey, we understand that this is happening and we've, when we're on, you know, your team, to help you be, you know, successful as an employee with your student loans.
[00:28:02] Monique Akanbi: Heather, thank you so much for sharing your deep insights with us. Thanks for having me. It's been great talking to you, Monique. And that's going to do it for this week's episode. Honest HR is a part of SHRM's HR Daily flagship content series. Head to SHRM dot org slash HR daily to learn more and sign up for our newsletter.
You can also catch us on SHRM's social media. Be sure to like, comment and be a part of the conversation. Thanks for joining us, and until next time,
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