Today during this year's Autism Acceptance Month, Austin360's Nicole Villalpando published an article highlighting Action Behavior Centers and our mission to assist our ABC teammates with their student loan debt and, in turn, help even more children on the Autism Spectrum.
"A report from the Behavior Analyst Certification Board found that the need for board certified behavioral analysts increased each year from 2010 to 2019. From 2018 to 2019, it was an 80 percent increase"
-Villalpando, Austin360
At ABC, we know there is a dire need for Board Certified Behavior Analysts. In the article, ABC's own CEO, Hersh Sanghavi shares that "We have thousands of families in the state of Texas that want and need these services, but the biggest constraint is we don't have enough master's level board certified behavioral analysts". In an attempt to increase the amount of fully-trained BCBAs at ABC, we created ABC Foundations.
As Villalpando mentions, "Sanghavi started looking at the student loan debt being carried by Action therapists at all levels. Action was able to create a program to refinance their student loan debt to lower payments. It also offered $50 every month to employees to go toward paying down their student loans" also stating "That might not seem like much, but employees are able to shorten the amount of time it takes to pay off their loans, which reduces the interest they are paying".
The student loan program has already started to speak for itself. Some ABC teammates are already seeing the difference it is making in their lives. One employee has stated that she will be able to pay off her existing loan in less than five years and is saving $10,000 in interest alone. The ABC teammate also saying, "This is life-changing for me as someone who needs to be prioritizing planning for retirement".
We hope that this program will help better the lives of our teammates and we are looking forward to uncovering many new ways in which we can show our team our gratitude for all that they do.
Interested in a career with Action Behavior Centers? We are always looking for new talent. We have a number of Board Certified Behavior Analyst (BCBA) and Registered Behavior Technician (RBT) positions available in Texas, Arizona, and Colorado. Get in touch with us today to learn more about pursuing your passions at ABC.
Villalpando, Nicole. "Austin autism center plans to help train more specialists by reducing student loan debt." Austin360. April 25, 2021. https://www.austin360.com/story/lifestyle/family/2021/04/25/autism-center-creates-program-help-pay-off-student-loan-debt-and-offer-tuition-assistance/7310556002/