Tuition Reimbursement?

[ezekiel]

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I'm thinking about dropping out of college to get my own place and work for a company that offers tuition reimbursement so I can afford to go to school. Does anyone have any experience with this?

Working full time, moving out and getting your own apartment for the first time, trying to go to college, getting tuition reimbursement? It seems to good to be true and like it will be very hard.

Any advice?

 

[oldtimer]

Many companies offer tuition reimbursement. However, the devil is always in the details as the saying goes. Some things you need to find out about the program:

1) How generous is the reimbursement? Is it capped by dollar amount or number of classes? My company allows me to take $3000 worth of courses *per year*.

2) If the classes you're taking is not part of your job, will your company pay for it? Most companies, since its their money, want their employees to take job-related education courses.

3) What grade do you need to get in order to get reimbursed? A = 100%, B = 75%, C = 50%, D or F = 0%.

Realize that if you take this route, it may take you a very long time to complete your degree. It might be better to bite the student loan bullet than to spend 10 years taking part-time classes.

 

[jlee9531]

dont some of the companies that offer this want you to work at their company for some period of time after you graduate, since they did invest all that money on you...?

 

[oldtimer]

Originally posted by jlee9531
dont some of the companies that offer this want you to work at their company for some period of time after you graduate, since they did invest all that money on you...?

Tuition reimbursement is part of your benefits package like 401(k) matching, short-term and long-term disability, etc. It is renewed every year and it's in the form of use-it-or-lose-it. This type of tuition reimbursement is when you work for the employer full-time and you're taking 1 or 2 classes to increase your value to the company. Another type and one which is less common is when the employer lets you go to school full-time and they cover the tuition and school-related costs, and if you're really lucky you still receive your salary. However, when you graduate, you have to return to the company for so many years or else you have to pay them back the education costs. This arrangement is more common for people pursuing their MBA. Many investment banks and consulting firms offer this program, but it is highly selective.

 

[osu2006]

I do this - I work for a major finance company so they will only pay for "business related" classes. So, I'm taking an economics major with a whole hell of a lot of microbiology classes wrapped up as "electives." My company will pay 100% of tuition, books and fees - with electives being taken out as taxable income and economics classes are looked at as non-taxable, meaning they send you a check instead of putting it on your paycheck so you don't have to pay taxes.

My company requires you to work there for one year after their last reimbursement quarter, so I'm planning to only get reimbursement for another 3 quarters and then stop doing it and take out loans b/c my wife will be done with graduate school and we'll have more money.

It's a really good company - if you want the name of it - they have offices all over the company and they' re always hiring, PM me.