OPM’s student loan report for fiscal 2009 includes a number of best practices on leveraging repayment authority to help with recruitment and retention.
Agencies – especially the Departments of Justice, Defense, Health and Human Services, and State, the Securities and Exchange Commission and GAO, which use it the most – say the authority to repay these loans is valuable tool, but one that is often limited because of a lack of resources.
Nonetheless, agencies have developed ways to strategically implement and administer their repayments. For example, the Department of Commerce recommends reviewing bureau office repayment programs prior to implementation as well as publishing program policies online and educating hiring managers on it.
Education recommended issuing a streamlined checklist for student loan repayment packages online to assist managers with repayment requests, while Labor recommended linking repayments to performance.
State recommended getting senior level management involved in program administration, making eligibility criteria transparent, and monitoring hiring and attrition rates to accurately project qualifying employee levels and appropriate funding.
It also said agencies should require employees to also make repayments in order to be eligible and only pay down principal on loans – not interest.
