Employer-Assisted College Savings
Extend the reach of your benefits by helping employees and future generations achieve their dreams of a college degree.
Benefits of Partnering with BenefitEd
Combine With Student Loan Repayment If You Choose
Make contributions to employee 529 college savings plans in combination with – or independent of – student loan repayment. It’s your education benefits program, so create a program that’s right for you and your employees.
Support Financial Well-Being and Planning
Helping to ease the stress of saving for college education costs can be an important benefit to your workforce – and offering this benefit can help incentivize employees to start a 529 college savings plan.
Reduce Administrative Hassle
Your assigned account manager and support team make implementation simple and handle administration of the college savings program, freeing up your time.
You Decide Who Receives the Benefit
You choose who receives your employer-assisted college savings benefit – and how much you’ll contribute.
How the Program Works
Employee Opens Savings Plan
The employee uses an existing 529 college savings plan or opens a new one by naming an account owner and beneficiary. All state-sponsored programs qualify for BenefitEd. (Employees, find your state plan here.)
Employee Contributes
The employee makes contributions to their college savings account and accrues interest. There are no minimums or due dates for employee contributions.
Employer Contributes
The employer provides an additional financial contribution to the savings account through BenefitEd. There are no minimums or due dates for employer contributions.
Employee Uses Funds
When the need arises, the employee’s beneficiary uses funds from the savings plan to pay for tuition, books, and other education-related expenses.
Getting Started is Simple
Program Design
We work with you to identify which employees are eligible and help create a benefits package based on your unique needs. It’s completely customizable – you decide:
- Who’s eligible for the benefit.
- How long eligible employees will have the benefit.
- How much you’ll contribute per employee.
- How often you’ll make contributions.
Easy Plan Implementation
At BenefitEd, we do the heavy lifting so employees and employers can focus on other important tasks. As an employer, all you need to do is:
- Provide the employee eligibility file.
- Verify employee’s status and provide a lump sum payment.
BenefitEd will provide outreach and collect information from employees, assist employees with 529 plans, distribute payments, and notify employees when to expect deposits.
Reporting and Follow-up
We make sure employers can gauge the impact of a college savings program on their organization – and that employees are reminded of the financial assistance they’re receiving from their employer.
- Monthly enrollment reports help you keep tabs on program activity, and track program impact on employee retention.
- Employees receive email confirmation that payment has been made to their account, reinforcing the program value.
This has been a great addition to our benefits package. The online portal is very user friendly and our customer service team is always ready to help.
Frequently Asked Questions
We make it easy to find answers to your questions about creating and implementing your employee benefits programs. Here are common questions we encounter.
Featured Resources
In our Resource Center, find useful articles, videos, case studies, whitepapers, and more on how to achieve your business objectives by effectively using education benefits to attract and engage employees.