Supporting educators isn’t just part of what we do; it’s who we are. At the heart of our company is a deep appreciation and respect for the impact educators have on our children and our communities. This appreciation has only grown in the last year, as educators navigated the complexities of teaching during a pandemic. They went above and beyond to reach and engage every student in a multitude of online and in-person formats — even while addressing the issues the pandemic created in their own lives.
To honor the dedication of America’s educators to our children, Horace Mann Educators Corporation formed the Horace Mann Educators Foundation in late 2020 and funded it with an initial contribution of $1 million. The Foundation’s primary focus will be on providing resources for needs identified as critical to students’ success by educators, schools or districts, as well as for solutions to systemic issues that are identified as roadblocks by educators.
In addition, Horace Mann provides complimentary assistance to help educators achieve lifelong financial success as part of our efforts to build relationships with educators and school districts.
Student Loan Solutions
The U.S. Public Service Loan Forgiveness (PSLF) program exists to encourage careers in public service by allowing federal loans of public service workers to be forgiven after 10 years of qualifying payments. However, the execution of the program has been widely criticized as confusing and contradictory, with about 2% of applications approved to date.
Horace Mann has offered every public school educator in the country a complimentary Student Loan Solutions online account, which includes webinar education, online resources and expert loan coaches to help educators get the loan forgiveness they deserve. In 2020, the program identified more than $100 million in PSLF opportunities for educators.
Financial Education
Horace Mann agents provide complimentary financial wellness workshops for educators at schools and online, including topics like financial literacy and retirement readiness. Each state has a different retirement system for educators, and some have more than one. Our local agents can speak to the requirements, benefits and idiosyncrasies of their respective systems and help educators understand their potential retirement income.
Classroom Crowdfunding
Teachers regularly spend hundreds of dollars of their own money to buy classroom supplies for their students. As a national sponsor of classroom crowdfunding platform DonorsChoose, Horace Mann provides funding for projects teachers have identified as critical to helping their students learn — and helps them keep more of their own money.