Aetna Paying Up To $10,000 Per Worker To Help With Student Loans

Aug. 12--HARTFORD -- At a point where the power in the hiring market is shifting back toward applicants, Aetna just put a sharp arrow in its recruiting quiver.

Starting in January, Aetna will send up to $2,000 a year to student loan servicers for any full-time employee who graduated after Dec. 1, 2013.

The company estimates that 4,000 employees -- or about 8 percent of the company -- could apply for the benefit. It declined to say how much it expected to spend in the program's first year.

Part-time employees who work at least 20 hours are also eligible for student loan help, up to $1,000 a year.

Just 4 percent of companies offer this benefit, according to the Society for Human Resource Management,

Aetna will spend up to $10,000 on loan repayments if the employee stays five years. It's the same package that mutual fund giant Fidelity implemented in January, but that company did not limit it to recent grads. It had 5,000 employees apply in the first three months of the program.

Typically, loan repayment periods are for 10 years.

When asked why it's limited to recent grads, the company said: "We are focusing our efforts on people with the greatest burden of debt."

Gabriella Lilienthal, 22, who works in human resources at Aetna, was surprised when she learned Wednesday of the new benefit.

Even though Lilienthal lived with her parents in Meriden during some of her time at UConn, her monthly loan payment is $320.

Lilienthal, who joined Aetna after graduating from UConn in December, said the benefit makes it even more likely she'll stay with the health insurer for at least five years.

"We believe that these improvements enable us to continue attracting and retaining the best talent," the company said, but declined to share its estimate on how it would improve retention.

Lilienthal recently moved into her own apartment in West Hartford, and saving $167 a month on her loan will give her more flexibility as she takes on her own auto insurance, health insurance and pays rent for the first time.

Lilienthal said she will definitely talk up the benefit to her friends still in school who are interested in working in the Hartford area. It will make working for an insurer an easier sell.

"There's a lot of young people" at Aetna headquarters, she said. "It makes it easier, leaving school, heading into corporate life."

Aetna has said that half of its annual hires are younger than 34. CEO Mark Bertolini told the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania this year that there are fewer than 1,600 workers at Aetna who have more than 20 years tenure, compared with 3,900 six years ago.

This benefit is not limited to young hires, however. Any person who finished either a graduate degree or an undergraduate degree in the last three years is eligible. And current employees who receive up to $5,000 a year in college reimbursement can use both programs. The company reimburses up to 80 percent of current employees' expenses through that benefit.

If borrowers have monthly payments of less than $167, the company will pay the entire amount, but the difference will not be available to pay down principal.

The benefit is taxable, the same as if the worker received a $1,000 or $2,000 bonus.

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