After Harvir Humpal earned his master’s degree in biomedical engineering, he was offered jobs at three Silicon Valley companies. But for the 24-year-old, who graduated from California Polytechnic State University in San Luis Obispo with $60,000 in student loan debt, one firm stood out from the rest: the healthcare company Abbott Laboratories.

It offered help repaying his student loans, a perk the other two couldn’t match.