Q & A Table of Contents
How Can I Get a Potential Employer to Pay My Student Loan?
From: Doctor -- Nova Scotia, Canada
Question: I am a family practice resident and I am currently in the process of negotiating student loan repayment with a potential employer. The problem is this hospital has apparently been burned before in a similar type of arrangement and only feel comfortable coming up with approximately two thirds of the total loan. I have two other offers that will pay the total amount. I would much prefer to practice in the community that has offered only two-thirds loan repayment. How can I rectify the situation and still get what I want in the process?
Response: You describe a couple of major interests: working for a
particular employer and paying off your student loan indebtedness. It
might make sense for you to parse out the details, the underlying interests
as well. For example if this particular employer is your first choice, why
is that so? the community where you would be living? your colleagues? the
patient population?, etc. Getting out of debt may also be open to some
investigation: are there timing issues involved? do you want to build up a
nest egg or begin to be in a position to buy a house?
Your favored future employer has been burned on student loan repayments.
How often? What were the circumstances? What makes you different from
whoever burned them before? Are there guarantees you can offer that can
overcome their nervousness about 'fronting' the full amount? How much
competition is there for the position you would be filling? Are other
possible competitors for 'your' job in a different situation vis a vis loan
repayment?
Your alternative offers should be viewed as your BATNA; your Best
Alternative To a Negotiated Agreement. To what extent do either of these
other employers and/or their communities meet the interests or criteria
most important to you? If you had to choose one of those other jobs, would
you be crushed, grumpy, or merely not as instantly happy as in your
preferred place? Do these other employers have mechanisms in hand that
prevent them from getting burned on student loan repayments that might be
replicated by your preferred employer and thus assuage its nervousness
about paying off your loan entirely?
To develop an effective strategy, you should put your assumptions about the
interests of the different parties on paper. Then you can ask appropriate
questions to see whether your assumptions are correct. Finding out how
much your preferred employer needs you, for example, should be less an
excercise in selling yourself and more a careful attempt to understand what
they are looking for and how well you fit that mould.
There is nothing wrong in making it clear to the favored employer that the
student loan issue is a major issue for you; helping them understand why
offers them an insight into your interests. If you and they can understand
each other's interests better, you can do a better job of finding creative
options for reaching agreement.
Good luck with your research.
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