Ever since the Internal Revenue Service opined that one particular 401(k) plan could use matching contributions instead to help employees pay off your student loans. On paper, a great idea since I love options. As with any idea, everyone is trying to copy it.

Providers are now going to try to offer a student loan-match program and my only question is how popular will they actually be? Student loans are choking the finances of anyone who has to pay them off, especially those who just graduated I still have loans that my parents are paying and that was over 20 years since I graduated. In order for employees to get the match to pay off student loans in these programs, they’re going to have to defer and if you have student loans to pay, deferring in a 401(k) plan might not be possible.

So these match student loan programs might be a great idea, there might not be enough of an audience that can afford to use them.