Student Loan Reimbursements Increase

The usage of the student loan reimbursement program continued to increase in calendar year 2008 as measured by the number of agencies making such payments, the number of employees receiving them and the amount paid, OPM has reported. It said that 35 agencies made payments to a total of 6,879 employees of $51.6 million for an average payment of $7,511, up from 33, 6,619, $42.2 million and $6,377 in fiscal 2007, respectively. By occupation, the largest percentage went to criminal investigators, attorneys and intelligence employees, while by department the leaders were Justice, Defense, State, SEC, GAO and HHS. OPM said that student loan repayments “are designed to be a recruitment and retention tool for agencies to use strategically to meet their specific human resources needs and goals. Therefore, agencies do not necessarily need to provide a large number of student loan repayments to use the incentive effectively.”