Dec. 14, 2018

Beginning next year, employees at Fareway Stores Inc. will be offered help paying down their student loans.

The new program, Fareway Fast Forward, is intended to help alleviate financial stress associated with the repayment of student loans.

Eligible full-time employees may receive up to $100 per month toward their student loans. The benefit will be administered by a third party, and payments will be made directly to the student loan company and applied to the principal balance of the loan.

“We are excited to provide this additional benefit to our employees,” said Reynolds Cramer, president and CEO. “It will help reduce the financial stress of paying student loan debt and encourage employees to consider higher education who may not have previously due to its cost.”

The lifetime benefit for an employee is $5,000, or the equivalent of 50 months of payments. To be eligible to participate in the program, an employee must have full-time status and complete a 45-day elimination period after becoming full time.

Fareway has two grocery stores in Sioux Falls and one in Harrisburg, and is taking over Sunshine Foods in Tea in February 2019.