It happens to be one of the most overlooked perks you can get at a job – discounted college tuition. Just imagine – when you are a teenager, looking fearfully at the terribly expensive tuition involved in getting into college, thinking about student loans that you’ll be stuck with for the rest of your life, looking at the stingy aid packages you get from the government – didn’t you wish there was someone out there who could just pick up your college tuition tab and let you be in peace? Well, at many American companies, that is exactly what you get. More than half of all American companies have some kind of tuition reimbursement program where they help you pay for your undergraduate education or grad school. As long as you get at least a B, you get something from 75% to 100% reimbursed for what you pay in college tuition.
The college tuition perk is a program you’ll find at every one of America’s hundred most sought-after companies to work for. Google does it, McDonald’s offers partial reimbursement even for part-time workers, and UPS does it as well with their Earn and Learn program. UPS has actually given out $50 million over the past 12 years or so that their program has been up and running. All of these are companies recognize that the more they ingratiate themselves to their employees, the better educated their workers are, the more successful they will be.
So how exactly does a college tuition plan work? At some companies, they will only finance your college if it has something to do with your work. That’s the way it is with Morgan Stanley or with Citi. Some companies will even allow employees time off to study for particularly difficult courses. They call them executive education programs and give their employees paid leave for study and for examinations. And they even give them a promotion when they get back. If you have a job with a company that is generous in this way, it would be a big mistake to not take advantage of the program.
Getting yourself out of the comfy and familiar surroundings of your cubicle and putting yourself on the line learning new skills, trying hard to stretch yourself, placing yourself among a young and motivated generation to learn with them – all of these can be great experiences have. It’s a kind of opportunity you never get anywhere else in life. You get paid to be better. It’s the closest thing in life that anyone will have to a guaranteed lottery. Make sure you buy a ticket.
