Take Advantage of Your Opportunities!!

[natshar]

This post is for all you people to take advantage of whatever opportunities you get from your work or other sources.


When I worked a local grocery store chain they offered a tuition reimbursement program that offered a 50% tuition reimbursement for part-time workers. However, no one else seemed to know about it and it took a lot of contacting different people to get it to happen. I surveyed as many people as I could and it seemed most of my co-workers didn't even know the tuition reimbursement existed and none had ever used it. They also had posters up in the break room for scholarships through the Grocers Associations you could apply for, I wonder how many people even bothered applying.


Now I work at a well known fast food chain. They offer one three credit course completely free through a specific university, as well as discounts of 10-30% off tuition at various online Universities. When I called to enroll in the free course the guy said I was the first person he had ever heard of to get the free course to transfer it and not take anything else with them. He said most people that take the free course would earn the whole degree there too (which still isn't terrible considering they offer 15% tuition discount). They also offer a discount on Study.com and the lady told me that only about 300 people had clicked the link for the discount. This company employees thousands!! Also, apparently certain regions of the country this chain offers tuition reimbursement and scholarships and I've been told by a few college reps they partner with that in some areas it can be very generous (for example combined with a pell grant your college could be free).


Take advantage of whatever resource given to you. Just because you might be working a minimum wage job don't overlook it.


McDonalds gives amazing college benefits to its employees (in fact McDonalds training can be worth up 30 ACE credits and they have special pricing, transfer agreements and discounts with TESU).

Walmart lets you earn a college degree for a $1 a day from well known University's including University of Florida.

Starbucks offers a free degree through Arizona State University online.


So many companies (walgreens, dollar general, Home Depot, KFC and more) are listed in either ACE or NCCRS credit. In fact, Purdue University Global would give me 1 college credit just for doing my job and 4 credits if I was a manager and my company isn't even listed under ACE or NCCRS for on the job credit. That isn't much, but to get one free credit just for doing your job isn't bad at all.

It isn't just big chains, smaller places offer stuff like this too. You just have to do your research.

[Johmford]

I can fully agree with you there! I am doing the MBA through WGU right now and I am getting ready to submit my docs for tuition reimbursement for this calendar year.

Just always read the fine print, some companies require you to stay with them a certain amount of time after they pay you back. My company is: every 3 months = 25% forgiven for reimbursements.

[quigongene]

I was fully reimbursed by my company a month into WGU. The only limit here is $5250 a year (which I understand is a pretty common number).

[dfrecore]

I was fully reimbursed by my company a month into WGU.  The only limit here is $5250 a year (which I understand is a pretty common number).

It's the IRS limit on what a company can deduct, so it's the most common number out there.

[hsfamfun]

This is very good advice. I know a number of young people who work for companies that offer tuition benefits, that either have no idea that they are offered or don't want to go to an online school. (In the case of Starbucks)  I took a number of courses when I was working for the state and they had tuition reimbursement.  It was after I had gotten my Masters and I just took them for personal enrichment.

[vetvso]

I offer a lot of my time for free trying to help veterans use their benefits, and they can even get DSST/CLEP reimbursed from the VA. Active duty really needs to save up vacation time before they ETS and use the last 1-2 months to test out of everything for free before they leave the military.

Also as above discusses make sure to use your companies school reimbursement program. I'm a TESU fan but there are several ways to your degree paid for if your smart and ask questions.

[natshar]

I offer a lot of my time for free trying to help veterans use their benefits, and they can even get DSST/CLEP reimbursed from the VA. Active duty really needs to save up vacation time before they ETS and use the last 1-2 months to test out of everything for free before they leave the military.

Also as above discusses make sure to use your companies school reimbursement program. I'm a TESU fan but there are several ways to your degree paid for if your smart and ask questions.

I agree. My brother is super smart and currently a Nuclear Electronics Technician in the Navy. He doesn't have any traditional college courses under his belt, but he does have three "5 scores" on AP tests and The Information Systems CLEP he got a 75 on with no studying (only took it because I told him to). I'm trying to encourage to earn a bunch more of credits for free. I think an undergraduate degree would be too boring for him anyways. After six years in the Navy, to waste time sitting in Math 101 seems silly.  Hopefully he could leave the Navy with all or most of a degree done. And it isn't just him, if you have knowledge why not test out of the course to save both time and money.

[MNomadic]

I offer a lot of my time for free trying to help veterans use their benefits, and they can even get DSST/CLEP reimbursed from the VA. Active duty really needs to save up vacation time before they ETS and use the last 1-2 months to test out of everything for free before they leave the military.

Also as above discusses make sure to use your companies school reimbursement program. I'm a TESU fan but there are several ways to your degree paid for if your smart and ask questions.

I agree. My brother is super smart and currently a Nuclear Electronics Technician in the Navy. He doesn't have any traditional college courses under his belt, but he does have three "5 scores" on AP tests and The Information Systems CLEP he got a 75 on with no studying (only took it because I told him to). I'm trying to encourage to earn a bunch more of credits for free. I think an undergraduate degree would be too boring for him anyways. After six years in the Navy, to waste time sitting in Math 101 seems silly.  Hopefully he could leave the Navy with all or most of a degree done. And it isn't just him, if you have knowledge why not test out of the course to save both time and money.

Also, assuming he's already finished all his initial nuclear training, his military joint service transcript will show that he has 80-100 credits. He could honestly finish all his gen Ed requirements for free through CLEP/DSST in a relatively short period of time.

[ThatBankDude]

So many people fail to take advantage of what is available to them but then complain about how they wish they could do better. There are so many opportunities to further ones education nowadays!


East Central University
Bachelors of Science - 2015
Biology

Southeastern Oklahoma State University
AACSB-Accredited
Masters of Business Administration - 2019
Management

[bjcheung77]

For those of you who have tuition assistance/reimbursement, use it or lose it! *sigh* I don't have tuition reimbursement, otherwise, I would use it - currently, the company only reimburses Biz/IT certifications (I don't believe I never used it at the old company I worked at, they had tuition assistance of only up to $1500).

I just talked to a friend of mine who works at UPS as a package handler/part-time driver. PT employees get Tuition assistance of up to $5250/year. Here is their TESU website link.

Link 1 https://www.tesu.edu/ups/top-10-tips-for-applicants
Link 2 https://www.tesu.edu/ups/tuition-voucher-program
Link 3 https://www.tesu.edu/ups/costs-tuition

The Per Credit Tuition Plan allows you to pay for each undergraduate course at the time of registration.
The undergraduate per credit tuition cost is $309. -- This is cheaper than in-state pricing! Woohoo!
Anyways, if you work for any company that has tuition assistance/reimbursement, Yes... do use it!