Student loan repayment benefits help attract, retain U.S. workers.

IN RECENT YEARS, one of the best recruitment and retention tools made available to federal agencies is the ability to repay certain types of federally made, insured or guaranteed student loans.

For background, federal law authorizes employing agencies to make payments to a loan holder of up to $10,000 for an employee in any year, up to a maximum of $60,000 for any one worker.

In return for this benefit, a qualified federal worker must sign an agreement to remain in the employ of the paying agency for a period of at least three years.

If that employee chooses to leave federal service or is involuntarily separated for misconduct or poor performance, they must reimburse that agency for all student loan repayments received.

The Office of Personnel Management reports that during calendar year 2009, 36 agencies provided 8,454 federal employees with a total of more than $61.8 million in student loan repayment benefits.

Compared to 2008, this is a 23 percent increase in the number of federal workers receiving student loan repayment benefits and a 20 percent increase in the overall financial investment into this incentive.

In 2009, the average repayment benefit was $7,317.

The law requires OPM to report to Congress annually on this program and it advises that compared to 2002, 12 times as many employees received this benefit than in 2009.

In 2009, the six federal entities making the most use of loan repayments were the Departments of Justice, Defense, Health and Human Services and State, the Securities and Exchange Commission and the Government Accountability Office.

Of the six leaders, the Departments of Justice and Defense far eclipsed the others with Justice leading with over 2,300 workers receiving a cumulative benefit of over $19,000.

The Department of Defense was second with over 2,100 employees receiving cumulative repayment benefits of just over $14,000.




NOT-SO-BEST WORKPLACES?
Last month, I provided a list of the "Best Places to Work" in the federal government as determined by survey data analyzed by the Partnership for Public Service and American University.

I reported the "Best Places," and received reader feedback asking for the "Not-So-Best Places." Here they are--the bottom five from the Partnership's list:

1) Housing and Urban Development
2) National Archives and Records Administration
3) Department of Education
4) Small Business
5) Department of Homeland Security.


Friday was the beginning of fiscal 2011, so Happy New Year to everyone whose federal jobs or careers are focused on Oct. 1 and Sept. 30!


Kevin Wilkinson of Spotsylvania County is a veteran federal employee. Write him c/o Federal Feedback, The Free Lance-Star, 616 Amelia St., Fredericksburg, Va. 22401. Or e-mail