Tuition.io to power student loan repayment for Estée Lauder employees
Helping millennials repay student loans
Student loan repayment platform Tuition.io has landed a major client, Estée Lauder, reports Julie Muhn at Finovate (FinTech Futures‘ sister company). The beauty company can help its employees pay down debt from their student loans via the Tuition.io platform.
Through their employee benefits package, Estée Lauder’s 46,000 employees will be eligible to receive up to $10,000 in student loan contributions. The repayments will be distributed in $100 increments each month to eligible employees’ loans. These parameters were put in place by way of insurance, since Estée Lauder isn’t aware of the value of its employees’ outstanding student loan debt. To receive Estée Lauder’s match of 100% on the first 3% and 50% on the next 4% of repayments, employees must contribute at least 7%.
Estée Lauder is one of a number of large US companies to partner with Tuition.io for student loan repayment benefits for employees. These include Live Nation, Staples, Children’s Hospital & Medical Center, HP, and Fidelity Investments.
One of the intentions of Tuition.io’s student loan repayment benefit offering is to attract millennials to the workforce. Millennials make up 61% of Estée Lauder’s workforce and, since the benefit took place in October of last year, about 65% of employees who have signed up are aged 35 or younger.
Latricia Parker, executive director of global benefits for Estée Lauder, says that “student loans are an increasing burden for current and potential talent at The Estée Lauder companies”. The implementation of Tuition.io’s benefit programme “is an example of how the company is executing its goal of being the best home for talent, offering benefits that relieve the stresses of everyday life and allow employees to focus on their careers and passions”, she explains.
Los Angeles-based Tuition.io operates a strict B2B business model, helping businesses to pay down student loan debt on behalf of their employees. Last September, it raised $7 million in Series B funding, bringing its total capital to more than $15 million.
