The Office of Personnel Management is publishing a running list of best practices and lessons learned regarding agencies’ management of the federal student loan repayment program, under which agencies may repay certain types of
student loans as a recruitment and retention tool.
Agencies may pay up to $10,000 a year or a total of $60,000 per employee in exchange for continued service.
For example, the Securities and Exchange Commission recommended determining whether the agency is going to repay loans taken out by an employee after employment to pay for courses toward a future degree, or only loans taken out for a completed degree.
The Department of Justice’s attorney student loan repayment program recommended shifting the burden of crafting legally sufficient justifications to the candidate-employee as part
of the application process, by providing a standard justification format that prompts the requester to provide the necessary information.
DoJ suggested requiring candidates to package applications according to a standard format in order to make assembly, distribution, and review easier.
If the agency cannot fund benefits for all eligible applicants, DoJ said to defer validation of loans until after tentative recipients are selected.
It also said to include consent to disclosure of financial information as part of the service agreement so loan holders will discuss account information with agency representatives, and it suggested withholding renewal payments until the employee corrects any erroneous distributions to non-qualifying loans, which frequently occurs when one loan holder carriers multiple loans.
The Department of State recommended getting assurance from management that the program will be funded as a line item in first year’s budget.
It also said to establish criteria for position-based eligibility, include unions in policy discussions, as well as develop an online application system that will populate a database on student loan repayment benefits.