Walgreens announced the launch of its Student Loan 401(k) Match Program, a benefit for student loan borrowers who are 401(k) participants that were made available by the SECURE 2.0 Act of 2022.
The benefit will be available to plan partcipants in January 2025 and will allow participants to qualify for company 401(k) match contributions as they pay down their student loans.
The plan had more than $11 billion in assets as of plan year 2022.
According to Walgreens, roughly 30% of their employees are facing financial debt from education—including more than half of its pharmacy team members. Pharmacists have an average student loan debt of $170,000.
Walgreens will match eligible student loan payments up to 4% of eligible pay. Employees are generally eligible for employer matching contributions after one year of work and 1,000 hours of service.