ATLANTA — McDonalds has launched a program in metro Atlanta and northwest Georgia that forgives some of employees’ student loans.
The Student Loan Forgiveness pilot program was launched earlier this year for crew members and managers at all 264 franchise restaurants in north Georgia.
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Applicants can apply to have $1,250 paid directly to their student loan lender once a year. According to the Education Data Initiative, Georgia has the third-highest federal student loan debt in the country with an average of $41,639 owed per borrow. More than 15% of the population carries student loan debt.
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“Since Georgians have some of the highest level of student debt per capita in the country, we wanted to help our people,” local McDonald’s owner/operator Rachel Mitchell said. “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.”
Employees are eligible to apply for the loan relief after 90 days of employment and are eligible to participate once per year that they work with the company.
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McDonald’s restaurants across Georgia are looking to attract and hire approximately 12K new employees this summer.
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