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Benefit combines student loan assistance with retirement savings plan to encourage healthy, lifelong financial practices
WALNUT CREEK, Calif., March 8, 2019 – CSAA Insurance Group, a AAA insurer, launched a new benefit to help employees pay off their student loans, while saving for retirement. CSAA Insurance Group’s “Employee Choice Plan” takes an innovative approach to helping employees pay down their student debt by integrating a student loan-contribution benefit into its retirement savings plan.
Student loan benefits are a growing trend among employers seeking to attract and retain young professionals. While many employer-sponsored student loan benefits provide employees a monthly dollar amount to pay down debts, CSAA Insurance Group has designed its contribution plan to encourage employees to both pay off their college debt and save for retirement. This creative approach saves people from having to make a common, but troubling, choice between tackling student debt or contributing to a retirement plan.
Employees can choose to use up to 4 percent of their employer-matched 401(k) benefit to pay down their student debt. Once they contribute 2 percent of their salaries to the retirement plan, they can choose to direct the remaining 1 to 4 percent of their 6 percent employer-matched funds toward paying off their student loans. The new student loan benefit is just one of many financial wellness resources available to help employees at CSAA Insurance Group make good financial choices throughout their careers.
“We take a holistic view of wellness at CSAA IG, which includes providing employees tools and resources to build financial stability,” said Kristin Utler, compensation and benefits executive at CSAA Insurance Group. “Student debt can burden people for years, and if we can offer employees help to manage their student debt, while getting them in the practice of contributing to a retirement account, it’s a win for everyone.”
The company has partnered with Tuition.io, a leading platform for employee student loan contributions, to offer the benefit to both full-time and part-time employees. About 230 CSAA Insurance Group employees have signed up for the program since it launched in January — 65 percent of whom are millennials. Roughly 60 percent of those participating are contributing to the 401(k) plan for the first time or were not taking full advantage of the company’s 6 percent match prior to the program.
With student loan debt in the U.S. steadily rising upwards of $1.5 trillion, younger workers are saving less for retirement, according to a study by the Center for Retirement Research. The study showed professionals who graduated with student debt have on average 50 percent less retirement savings by age 30 compared to those with no student debt.
“The burden of student loans is a major reason why fewer and fewer millennials are saving for retirement,” Tuition.io CEO Scott Thompson said. “Our corporate partners are increasingly turning to us for ways to combat both issues. We worked with CSAA Insurance Group to integrate the Tuition.io platform into a unique and stellar financial benefit offering. We think it’s an approach more companies will consider in the future as younger generation workers increasingly look to their employers for solutions managing their student debt.”
About Tuition.io
Tuition.io is the nation's leading employee benefit platform empowering employers to better attract, retain and engage their next generation of talent who are saddled with stifling student debt, by helping their employees reduce and better manage their student loan burden. Tuition.io works with companies of all sizes, from Fortune 500 companies such as Live Nation, Staples and Estée Lauder Companies, to startups including ChowNow and Chegg, as well as public entities such as the City of Memphis. Tuition.io is on a mission to provide an impactful solution for employers and employees across the country. For more information, visit www.tuition.io or follow us at @Tuitionio.com.
About CSAA Insurance Group
CSAA Insurance Group, a AAA Insurer, offers automobile, homeowners and other personal lines of insurance to AAA Members through AAA clubs in 23 states and the District of Columbia. Founded in 1914, the company has been rated “A” or better by A.M. Best for more than 90 years, and is one of the top personal lines property casualty insurance groups in the United States, according to the National Association of Insurance Commissioners. The company has been repeatedly named one of the 50 most community-minded companies in America by Points of Light.