Item Description:
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Neg Agmt with Savi for the provision of student loan repayment and loan forgiveness assistance program services for employees, DOE-12/31/25, NTE $500,000
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Resolution:
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BE IT RESOLVED, that the County Administrator be authorized to negotiate an Agreement with Savi for the provision of student loan repayment and loan forgiveness assistance program services for employees during the period of date of execution through December 31, 2025, DOE-12/31/24, in an amount not to exceed $500,000; that after review and approval by the County Attorney’s Office, the Chair of the Board be authorized to sign the agreement on behalf of the County; and that the Controller be authorized to disburse funds as directed.
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Background:
It is estimated that 43.5 million Americans have student debt accounting for 1.7 trillion dollars. We know that a significant number of Hennepin County employees have some form of student debt.
In addition to student debt for themselves, there are 3.7 million “Parent Plus” loans where an employee has taken the loan out for their children. Many parents don’t realize that they can also get loan forgiveness for those loans. Public Student Loan Forgiveness (PSLF) rules provide that after 120 qualifying loan payments, while working for a public sector employer or non-profit, an employee can get full forgiveness of their balance. Under the CARES Act student loan pause there were many employees who had their loans paused for as much as 3.5 years (36 payments). Those 36 payments can count towards the 120 payments for PSLF despite those payments not actually being made.
Additionally, if an employee at the county previously worked for a non-profit or other public entity they may not be getting credit for those previous years because their former employer is required to verify that for them. The average savings through the Savi program are $150/month or $1,800/year per participant.
Key components of the program:
• There will be a safe/confidential and secure Hennepin customized microsite
• Hennepin County will assume all costs for employee participants
• There are 50 different Income Driven Repayment (IDR) plans that an employee can qualify for to reduce their monthly student loan payment. An income driven reduction can lower monthly payments which will expand the balance, you have left after the 120 payments needed to get full forgiveness, increasing the amount of forgiveness available for each employee.
• Parent loans are included
• Connects with the majority of student loan lenders allowing the employee to pull in their student loan information directly to finalize the loan forgiveness calculation.
• Direct Account Management and Implementation team
• Online Assistance with completing all needed student loan forgiveness forms
• Public entity employee verification currently requires the employee to pull a blank government form and take it to their current and past employers to complete. The Essentials Program streamlines and simplifies the process for employees.
recommendation
Recommendation from County Administrator: Recommend Approval