Sallie Mae is asking Delaware for more than $2 million in grants to bring about 300 jobs to the state.
The consumer banking giant is planning to boost its customer service operation at its headquarters in Newark by adding 285 new jobs.
But the jobs come at a price. The state will pay $2.2 million from the Delaware Strategic Fund Grant over three years for them.
“As it stands right now, the state will make a return on this investment as this deal matures. And Sallie Mae won’t be able to draw on this grant until they hit the job numbers," said director of the Division of Small Business, Development & Tourism, Cerron Cade.
That organization replaced the Delaware Economic Development Office, which lawmakers dissolved in June.
Sallie Mae has to hire 120 workers by 2018 to get its first payment. It needs to have all 285 jobs filled by 2020 to get the full $2,160,000.
The company isn't releasing salaries for the customer service positions but said they’ll be decent, middle-class jobs.
Sallie Mae is also investing nearly $5 million of its own money.
Cade said it's a good deal for the state.
"Not only does it expand Delaware’s tax base. It gets a couple hundred workers off the state’s unemployment rolls," he said.
HSBC Bank and Barclays announced this spring they’re laying off or relocating a total of 800 workers in Delaware by the end of the year.
Under the grant agreement, Sallie Mae has agreed to prioritize hiring those laid off Delawareans.
The Council on Developmental Finance still has to approve the deal. It meets at the Delaware Technical Community College's Terry Campus in Dover Monday, July 24 at 9:00 a.m.
