Student Debt Retirement annual review toolkit
A suite of materials to help you announce, educate about and navigate the benefit annual review process and period to your employees
What is annual review?
Plan sponsors ending their 2024 benefit year with the Student Debt Retirement (SDR) Savings Match benefit on 31 December 2024 will move to finalize student loan payment amounts, calculate required benefit payments, and test all parts of their plan for compliance with nondiscrimination testing.
Beginning in January 2025, two weeks* (chosen by 1 November 2024) will be allocated for each plan sponsors’ SDR plan participants to review their final payment data, and add and/or confirm payment data prior to the end-of-year match funding period.
*While two weeks is the default annual review time period, some plan sponsors may have longer review windows.
Why should I use the Student Debt Retirement annual review toolkit?
This toolkit focuses on information for SDR-enrolled participants before, during and after annual review. It includes samples of Fidelity-sent annual review communications, as well as supplemental communications and materials to further raise awareness about and inform participants about the process.
The sections below outline the flow of participants’ complete journey, noting where annual review falls relative to the other SDR journey stages:
| Before annual review opens |
After confirming end-of-year review slots, plan sponsors are encouraged to use this month to announce the upcoming 2-week annual review period. Some guidelines for sending the below email to participants:
Download annual review announcement OFT
As a reminder, SDR participants received a Fidelity-sent quarterly payments reminder in early October 2024. View this reminder here.
Share the annual review guide to further educate participants on what to expect in January: |
| During the annual review period | Annual review will open for plan sponsors on day 1 of the two-week period as confirmed. On day 1, the following email will be sent by Fidelity:
Annual review open notification, Fidelity-sent During the plan sponsor’s allocated two weeks, we encourage sending the below reminder OFT to participants: Download annual review reminder OFT Five (5) days before the annual review period ends, participants will receive the following final communication from Fidelity: Annual review closing notification, Fidelity-sent |
| After annual review closes | After reviewing and approving data, approving match amounts and funding the match it’s time to celebrate! Use the end-of-year match OFT to inform participating employees of their match.
Download EOY match OFT Use the celebration power point slide to reinforce you’re leadership in this student debt benefit space. Showcase the number of employees enrolled, total student loan payments paid, and additional match contributions earned from student loan payments (data available via the Student Debt section of PSW.) Download celebration PPT |
Additional helpful resources
| SDR PSW toolkit | Visit the SDR PSW toolkit for more information about the full plan year, including a full suite of materials to raise awareness, educate and promote the benefit to your employees.
Visit the SDR PSW toolkit page |
| Student Debt Tool | Want to help your employees learn if there's a better way to pay off their student loans? This easy-to-use tool helps them assess, track, and understand new strategies for paying off student debt.
Student Debt Tool |
| Student debt relief + participant help | In response to the Department of Education's Student Debt Relief Plan, we have curated FAQs and other materials to help you and your employees navigate the loan forgiveness program.
Click here to visit the Fidelity Workplace Student Debt Page |