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McDonald's has done a lot to aid in community efforts over the years. Now, they are bringing relief to employees that struggle with college student loan debt. According to WSB-TV, the global fast food chain has launched a program in certain regions of Georgia that will help pay off approved employee's student loans annually.
The Student Loan Forgiveness Pilot Program encompasses 264 restaurants across Atlanta and Northwest Georgia. It applies to crew members and managers. WSB-TV noted that employees who chose to apply to the program will have $1,250 paid directly into a student loan lender account once a year.
“Since Georgians have some of the highest level of student debt per capita in the country, we wanted to help our people,” Georgia McDonald’s owner Rachel Mitchell told WSB-TV. “We recognized this as a unique opportunity that many employers do not offer to both help our people pay down their student loan debt and to also attract new employees in today’s competitive hiring market.”
The average student debt per borrow in Georgia is just over $40,000. In fact, Georgia has the third highest student debt in the entire country. McDonalds is currently looking to hire over 10,000 employees, and those that have been a crew member for 90 days can officially apply to the pilot program for debt relief.