Want Tuition Reimbursement? These Are Companies That Pay For College!
By Kara | Staff Writer
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Kara is a writer and photographer from the Midwest. Her creative work has appeared in various publications over the past decade. With a background in finance, she loves to be money-savvy.
Working for a college/university is another way. Both through student loan forgiveness or tuition reimbursement through the college themselves. I’ve worked at several and most have had cheap/free tuition sometimes all the way through your ph.D for the employee and usually for their kids, too.
Yes, that’s how I made it. I went to a Community college for AA. After, I transferred to the university to get my bachelor and I was employed there prior. Met the 1 year requirement prior transfer and was able to get 100% tuition for 2 classes. After that, stayed and got my master’s. For master’s, they covered 80% for 2 classes each semester. Took me 2 years to do the master’s but well worth it. Graduated with my master’s and I didn’t owe anybody a dime. Paid the 20% of the master’s as I was working, also a scholarship helped as well for the master’s
Some unions, AFSCME for example, have free associate programs for members and their families as well. AFSCME free college partners with Eastern Gateway Community College in Ohio and offers online schooling as well. I believe they also partnered with another college to offer some bachelor degrees.
I came here to mention this too!
My daughter is currently taking advantage of the Wells Fargo Children of Employees scholarship and it just recently got renewed for the upcoming year.
Awesome to hear that, Susan! 🙌
Just read the fine print; I went to school part-time for three years and my company paid for it. They were down-sizing and my job was being eliminated. I found a new job a few months before our end date and six months later got a letter from a collection agency saying I had to pay over $1,000 back since I hadn’t worked 12 months after the last reimbursement payment. They wouldn’t even take into account that I would have been losing my original job within months. But at least they paid for the first two years and I found a job that I loved even though it is part-time and pays a lot less; not having all that stress is worth it!
Years ago my husband’s company paid for his Master Degree program with the stipulation you had to work a year with the company after graduation to qualify for the reimbursement. Things were getting bad and he was looking for a new job. When he got offered a job at a new company he asked if they could push back his start date by one week just so his one year tuition reimbursement would go through and the new company agreed:) He got his reimbursement and has been at the new company for 13 years now.
Wendy’s offers tuition reimbursement if you work 20 hours a week.
Thanks for sharing! Good to know!
Hopefully new tuition-free options will be available soon for everyone. This is especially needed for single parents and military spouses that are juggling so much already. But great that some companies are giving back.
Community college is the way to go. Many also have partnerships with four year schools which will save even more money. Too many kids are in crazy debt they will never dig themselves out of.
Yes! In most cases your FAFSA grant will cover ALL the cost of community colleges, I got my associate’s for free and then transferred to a 4 year school that has agreements with the community college. I’m now a semester away from my bachelor’s and my total debt is 7,000 in subsidized loans which means the interest is being paid while I’m in school and a year after I graduate! Getting your bachelor’s doesn’t have to cost so much, you just have to be smart about it and not take loans you don’t need!
I thought I saved a post from several years ago about odd scholarships but I must not have. Hip2Save, if there was such a thing, can you post that link again? My son is going to be a senior and we’re looking for any opportunity to cut the cost of college. Thanks.
You could try Fastweb. It’s a scholarship search engine that’s been around for a long time: https://www.fastweb.com
Oh yes! Here you go! https://hip2save-com-develop.go-vip.co/tips/weird-cool-college-scholarships/
Thanks so much for the request! I’ve passed this along to the team to look into updating!
Kellyfornia…my daughter will now be a sophomore in college, so it wasn’t long ago that she was in your son’s position. My daughter received several scholarships and a few things she did that helped tremendously were: 1. She started a spreadsheet which included the scholarship name, date due, when she sent application in and response. 2. In the first week of senior year, she went in to see the college and career counselor at her high school and made frequent visits. That office will know of scholarships available (particularly local ones) as well as national scholarships that students in previous years have received. Remind you student that even the smaller scholarships (ie. $500 will pay for books, etc). Also – some scholarships will have very early due dates – such as October. So that is another reason for seeing the career counselor early. 3. One key component of the scholarship application will be the essay. Make sure your son really thinks through the question/questions and makes himself stand out. Also, he should ask an English teacher or the career counselor at school to review his essay. But make sure he gives them plenty of time since other students might be asking too. 4. Determine who he will ask for references, making sure to select people who truly know him well. Again, make sure he is watching deadlines and ask for the references early and not last minute. 5. As you look at schools, realize that private schools give very large merit scholarships and often then make the cost of attendance similar to a large state university. At first the school my daughter chose was so much more expensive but immediately upon acceptance she was awarded a $21,000 per year scholarship and that was renewable for all 4 years provided she maintains a certain GPA. She did not have to apply separately for that and it was awarded at the time her acceptance letter. arrived.
Last – My daughter identified what she was looking for: she wanted a smaller school where she would get to know her professors well; she wanted to be within 3 hours of home; she wanted a school in which she would begin her major classes immediately her freshman year rather than only gen ed classes. Last year was her first year, she is an education major, and already has taken 4 education classes. So in addition to looking for scholarships, if your son has not yet selected what school he wants to attend, you can help him narrow down his choices with questions such as what size university do you want to attend, how far from home is the maximum you want to go, if he knows his major of study, do any of the schools he is looking at have any unique feature to their program, etc. BEST of luck to your son. It can seem overwhelming at times but with perseverance, there are many scholarships out there. Hope sharing our experience helps.
I work for local county government. Certain government loans offer forgiveness after 10 years service with a government agency. This is on the FAFSA website.
Oh interesting! Thanks for taking the time to share that!
Would love to hear from experienced parents on the process of applying to colleges and how to prep our kids in middle-high school to help them get into good colleges/universities. Just a suggestion to Hip2save if they can start a post where we can share our experiences and guide other parents. Thank you!
GREAT idea! Thanks for the request! I’ll be sure to pass this along to the team!
I encouraged my kids to do their homework right after school, they both knew the importance of college and good grades. I paid for private instruction in Spanish so my sons grade would be good (it only took 4 sessions). My daughter knew what college she wanted to attend and knew it required not only good grades but several AP classes. She is 30 days away from going to her dream college, with the ability to avoid loans for 3 semesters. Watch grades, attitudes and friends. My daughter had a teacher that was prejudice to females, after meeting with the teacher, I took my concerns to the principle, many students grades went up due to this investigation. Don’t be afraid to meet with teachers,counsolor, principles, superintendent, I have even gone to the school board. Always fight for your kids and they will learn not to be afraid of teaches, they will find their own voices to ask why a grade was given. The counsoler will be a great help for colleges.
Thank you! Appreciate it.
Are there any conditions on tuition? Such as the degree you pursue has to be something in demand with the company? Or you have to work for them after you finish?
Often, yes. There is always fine print.
Ups also provides free Healthcare after 9 months for part time employees, spouse and kids. The plan is amazing with a low deductible of 100 and max oop of 1000. The only reason I’m here is for the insurance and pension.
What is the pension like at ups?
U earn about 60 dollars per years worked for example you work 20 years you would get 1200 pension !!!
My daughter worked at Chik-fil-A during her studies at the local community college. They pretty much paid half of her two-year tuition there!
Lots of banks also offer to cover college tuition for their employees.
Oh awesome! Thanks for sharing that, Peaches! Good to know! 🙌💕