The Social Security Administration also plans to offer the new benefit but is waiting for feedback from its operating divisions. The Defense Department and National Aeronautics and Space Administration have floated proposals, officials said. They offered no details. Under rules issued by the Office of Personnel Management, agencies may repay the student loans of federal employees to attract or keep talented individuals. To receive the benefit, an employee must sign an agreement to remain in the service of the agency for not less than three years.
Many employees still paying off student loans are eager to try to qualify for the repayments.
The Commerce Department plans to issue guidelines to its divisions this week, a spokesman said. VA hopes to have its program up and running in a month. GSA said it plans to set up a program within two months, in time to offer the loan repayments as part of its summer hiring effort on college campuses. The State Department has requested funding for a program that it hopes to start Oct. 1, the beginning of the fiscal year. By then, OPM will have issued a second regulation expanding the program to cover Foreign Service and other employees who are not part of the General Schedule system.