The Office of Personnel Management has announced that
agencies’ use of the federal student loan repayment program
tripled in fiscal 2003.
Under–5 U.S.C. 5379–federal agencies may repay up to
$10,000 per employee per calendar year, up to a total of
$60,000 in return for remaining in the service of the
paying agency for at least three years.
Used as a recruitment and retaining incentive, the program
channeled nearly $9.2 million in loan repayment benefits
to 2,077 employees in fiscal 2003, according to OPM’s
report to Congress on the program.
It said funding for the program, as well as the number of
employees recruited and retained with its help, increased
threefold from fiscal 2002, and six agencies established
programs to join the 24 already providing benefits in
fiscal 2003.
In an earlier memo, OPM directed agencies to use the program
as a “tool to manage their workforce strategically and
develop a budget plan for using recruitment and retention
incentives, including student loan repayments.”
The report can be found at:
