“2024 Financial Wellness in the Workplace Report: The Evolving Needs of the Multigenerational American Workforce”, PNC Bank, pnc.com/workplacereport
PNC Student Debt Solution
Enhance your employees’ financial wellness by reducing the cost and stress associated with student debt

Overview
PNC Student Debt Solution, powered by CandidlyTM, is a customizable program that provides your employees with tools to help reduce the impact of student loan debt on their financial well-being.
- No matter the lending institution or the terms of the loan, PNC Student Debt Solution provides options ranging from identifying forgiveness and refinancing options to helping borrowers better manage their repayment schedule.
- Employers can digitally streamline their tuition reimbursement process, establish contribution programs as a paid employee benefit, and/or provide retirement match contributions based on student loan payments.
Impact of Student Loan Debt on Employees[1]
PNC’s 2024 Financial Wellness in the Workplace Report revealed that many U.S workers are financially stressed and struggling to manage their debt, including student loan debt.
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PNC Student Debt Solution Supports the Full Financial Journey
Core platform capabilities:
- Student Loan Dashboard: See a real-time roll-up of all student loans in one place.
- Federal Payment Plan Optimizer: Discover, compare and apply for an income-driven repayment plan in minutes.
- Public Service Loan Forgiveness: Apply for and track a path to achieve public service loan forgiveness.
- Private Student Loan Finder: Tap into a network of lenders to choose the best-priced borrowing option.
- Student Loan Refinancing Finder: Compare lenders offers side-by-side to potentially find a lower interest rate.
- Smart Payments: Easily make one-time or recurring extra payments to pay off student debt even faster.
- Learning Center: Bridge the knowledge gap with easy-to-understand articles and guides.
Premium capabilities:
- Employer Contributions: Contribute any amount on a monthly, quarterly or annual basis based on an employee’s tenure, salary grade or other criteria. Under the Consolidated Appropriations Act (2021), an employer can provide tax-free contributions of up to $5,250 annually.
- Coaching: Certified Student Loan Professionals offer personalized guidance and actionable insights so users can take their next steps with confidence.
- Retirement Match: Employers may treat employee student loan payments as eligible contributions for the purpose of retirement matching as provisioned in SECURE Act 2.0.
- Tuition Reimbursement: Digitalized solution to review and approve requests with all documentation in one streamlined workflow.
Frequently Asked Questions
No, an employer may choose to turn off any of the individual modules/capabilities in the core platform.
PNC Organizational Financial Wellness and Candidly’s Workplace Success teams will work closely with employers for a successful implementation and launch. Implementation can take anywhere from 2 to 6 weeks depending on program design, during which time the benefit program design is finalized, including eligibility and contribution amount, and launch materials are provided. In addition, census file format and ongoing processes are reviewed.
Employers will have access to an Employer Dashboard that provides engagement statistics across their employee base.
Employers can choose to offer access to the platform to only to their benefit-eligible employees, or they can offer it to all employees, including part-time or contracted. While the student loan platform is primarily geared toward borrowers, it offers content and tools that can be helpful for families of borrowers and those who are in the stages of planning and preparing to go to college or to send a child to college.
Participants have access to customer support, provided by Candidly, via chat, email and phone. Normal business hours are Monday to Friday, 9 a.m. to 8 p.m. ET. Users also have 24/7 access to an ever-expanding help center covering topics from how-tos to education on loan types and overall student loan information.
Employees who sign up for the Candidly platform will receive emails from Candidly confirming activities and transactions, and driving further engagement with the platform. Employees can opt out of receiving non-transactional emails from Candidly at any time.
Candidly is a venture-backed fintech company that has been supporting student loan borrowers since 2016. Candidly partners with leading employers, 401(k) and 403(b) record-keepers, financial institutions and more to offer solutions for those planning for college, repaying student debt and saving for the future.
Candidly is currently SOC 1, SOC 2, PCI, BSA/AML and FISMA compliant. Candidly runs pen tests twice a year and performs annual audits on its security attestations.
PSLF is a federal program that forgives a borrower’s remaining federal student loan debt after they have made 120 qualifying payments in sectors like government, education, healthcare and nonprofits. Applying for this program can be difficult, leading to low enrollment and acceptance rates.
PNC Student Debt Solution has streamlined the forgiveness experience for employees through an easy-to-use core platform feature that’s also automated for their employers.
Section 127 of the Internal Revenue Code (IRC) allows employers to make tax-free payments of up to $5,250 per year to eligible employees for qualified educational expenses.
Both student loan and tuition reimbursement contributions fall under Section 127, giving employers the unique opportunity to help their workforce while tapping into tax savings.
The SECURE Act 2.0 amends the tax code to treat employee payments to student loans as elective deferrals for the purposes of retirement matching contributions. This landmark legislation therefore enables employers to make a contribution to employees’ retirement plans based on the employee making a payment to their student loan.
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