UpRight CEO Ed Scanlan preparing to speak at Rep. Dold’s press conference.
Our mission at UpRight Law is to help people across the U.S. achieve financial freedom by expanding access to justice. Of course, we want to help our employees and partners in that mission to achieve the same freedom. Like many young Americans, 2/3 of our 100+ employees are burdened with student loan debt. To alleviate that burden, we’ve partnered with Peanut Butter to offer student loan repayment assistance as an employee benefit.
Currently, only about 3% of U.S. employers offers assistance with student loan. We hope and believe that we are among the first of many. In addition to the obvious benefits to employees, research from Peanut Butter shows that employees are more likely to accept a job and willing to stay in a job longer when the employer contributes to student loan repayment.
Talking with Representative Dold before the announcement.
That’s especially important to us here at UpRight, because we want our employees to stay with us long term and grow with us as we continue to expand access to justice.
Unfortunately, current law doesn’t favor this type of employee benefit. While many benefits, such as retirement and medical contributions are afforded special treatment by the IRS, student loan repayment contributions are currently classified as taxable income to the employee.
One U.S. Congressman has a plan for changing that. This morning, UpRight CEO Ed Scanlan appeared at a press conference with Congressman Robert Dold, where Dold unveiled proposed legislation that would exclude employer contributions to student loan repayment from taxable income and offer tax benefits to employers based on their contributions.
We are delighted not only to offer this benefit to our employees, but to be part of a movement that will open up possibilities for the tens of millions of Americans burdened by student loan debt and help to solve our nation’s $1.3 trillion student loan problem.
