The HR director who went through it himself: A conversation with Steve Kilo

In this episode, Jamila Stewart from Summer talks with Steve Kilo, Director of Human Resources for the City of Strongsville, Ohio. Strongsville has offered student loan support to its employees since 2024. Steve is the HR leader who brought the benefit to the city, and as a public servant he went through Public Service Loan Forgiveness himself. He calls that experience “torturous.” Steve graduated from law school in 2001 and made his qualifying payments. Then, year after year, his applications were rejected over small technicalities while he kept paying about $450 a month.

Steve first heard about Summer from a colleague at the City of Akron during a public-sector HR roundtable. He saw it right away as a way to invest in employees who weren’t covered by tuition reimbursement, almost like “an additional pay raise.” Since launch, employees who had been turned down again and again have received $10,000 to $20,000 or more in forgiveness. Summer’s reports show hundreds of thousands of dollars in employee savings, far more than the city’s annual contract cost. For public employers that can’t offer bonuses or stock options, Steve says it’s one of the few benefits that reaches people where they are actually struggling.