Louisville, KY-based Trilogy Health Services has begun offering an expanded suite of education assistance benefits to help its employees manage the cost of higher education and alleviate their student debt, improving employee retention along the way.
The benefits, including student loan repayment assistance, scholarships for employees and dependents, and access to a student loan financial wellness platform and mobile app, are being offered through a partnership with Tuition.io. Trilogy is the first to offer the new suite, the employee benefit platform company said.
“Our employees are the most important factor in the experience of our residents, and it’s simply the right thing to do to help repay the debt they incurred to become our employees,” said Todd Schmiedeler, senior vice president of foundation and workforce development for Trilogy Health Services.
Currently more than 1,200 employees at Trilogy’s more than 100 senior living and care communities are participating in the company’s student loan repayment program. Each employee owes an average of $31,668, for a collective total of more than $36 million in student loan debt. Employees eligible for the repayment program each receive monthly contributions of $100 to help reduce the principal of their student loans; there is no lifetime maximum. The program is available to full-time and part-time employees who have been employed with Trilogy for a minimum of six months.
Employee retention rates have improved through the program, with employees staying almost two and a half years longer as a result of receiving student loan repayment assistance, Tuition.io CEO Scott Thompson said.
Trilogy previously managed student loan repayment assistance internally, Schmiedeler said, but under the partnership, the number of participants doubled in a short period of time. Tuition.io, he added, “provided immediate relief to the heavy administrative burden of our benefits program.” A central administrative platform enables employers to see what benefits their employees are taking advantage of, along with detailed reporting and program metrics.
In addition to student loan repayment, Trilogy provides scholarships to employees and dependents administered through Tuition.io.
