EduPlan Blog

Tuition Assistance--Reimbursement or Pre-pay?

by Sandy Womack, Ed.D., Director, EduPlan   www.eduplan.org

Many large and mid-sized companies offer educational assistance to their employees.  This is considered a benefit and it is unusual for a company to cut this benefit.  I have read articles about corporations cutting back on education, but my corporate clients have not done so.  However, some of the companies have put a hold on new applications for education for a quarter or two, and a few companies are lowering the maximum dollar amount per year.

With educational assistance benefits staying in place, but with fewer training personnel to monitor the benefit, it makes sense to outsource educational assistance to a Tuition Assistance Administrator.  These Administrators provide intuitive software with fewer customer service problems and reports on spend are available 24/7.  Several of the Tuition Assistance Administrators provide Managed Education benefits of college discounts and academic advising to save costs. 

Some educational assistance programs are reimbursement to the employees and others are pre-pay.  If your company is considering outsourcing your educational assistance program, you have the choice.  Reimbursement is the more traditional because employees are co-contributors to their education.  Pre-pay allows lower paid employees (who usually need the education) to participate without having to use a credit card or get a loan and wait to be reimbursed.

Outsourcing educational assistance is a way to save money on this valuable benefit as well as save time for your HR/Training Staff.

Get the e-book:  5 Considerations before Choosing an Onilne degree at the EduPlan website:  www.eduplan.org

Good, Less Expensive, Online MBA Programs

by Sandy Womack, Ed.D., Director, EduPlan    www.eduplan.org

Free e-book available on the website:  20 Considerations before Choosing an Online Degree

An educational advising client of mine was in a dilemma.  He wanted the MBA degree, but his local, state university did not have a part-time program.  He worked full time and needed an evening or weekend program.

I suggested an online degree, but the schools he wanted to attend were all $50-60K for the degree.  He had a generous $10K/year educational reimbursement from his company, but it would take him 5 - 6 years if he didn't put his own money in for tuition.

We looked at the "sponsored ad" online MBA's.  I coined that term because you see these MBA programs everytime you search for online schools.  Some of these "sponsored ads" MBA's were less expensive, but my client felt he would be "watering down" his good bachelor's degree by attending these schools.

My job was to find him some good, less expensive, online MBA programs.  The school had to be regionally accredited (his company's minimum standards for reimbursement) and he wanted a school with the business department accredited by the Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business (AACSB). These would be the top 25% of the business schools in the country.

So, here are 3 AACSB accredited MBA programs that are under $20K for the program and are online:

1) Morehead State University

2) Western Kentucky University

3) Fort Hays State University

These 3 state universities fit the criteria for my client's career goals and stayed within his reimbursement maximum.

Want to be in the top 1%?--Get Your Doctorate

by Sandy Womack, Ed.D., Director, EduPlan

Get free e-book  5 Considerations before Choosing an Online Degree on the EduPlan website:  www.eduplan.org

I have several frends and colleagues who are starting or finishing their PhD, PsyD or EdD degrees.  This put them in the upper 1% of the population.  About 27% of the US Population has an undergraduate degree; about 8% has a Masters degree and about 1% has a doctorate. 

I feel like telling a story about walking to school 5 miles in the snow because it does seem a lot easier to gain a doctorate now than when I finished mine in 1985.  Today, you do not have to quit your job to attend a program.  There are part-time programs and distance learning programs.  The online degrees usually require a short residency, but a few schools (such as Northcentral University) have no residency requirements.

Also, I completed my degree before the Internet and searches were readily available.  There were some databases available at my library, but I had to pay for every entry.  I didn't know a lot about key words, so I put in my key words and got back pages of results that were not workable.  Only 10% of those entries were helpful to me and it cost over $100.  At that time, I could almost pay rent for $100.

When I was in the doctoral program, dissertation was started after all the coursework.  Today, departments push students to start their dissertation immediately and all research and papers are geared around the dissertation topic. 

I'm not implying that getting a doctorate is fast or easy, but more schools offer part time doctorates, the research is easier and the departments really help students complete the degree as quickly as possible. 

"Top MBA Degrees Online"--by What Criteria?

by Sandy Womack, Ed.D., Director, EduPlan

www.eduplan.org   (Click on the website for a free e-book:  5 Considerations Before Choosing an Online Degree)

I just read an article on EzineArticles (www.ezinearticles.com) called "Things that You Should Do After Earning Your Online MBA".  It was an okay article, but I was interested in the author's website:  Complete Online MBA Tips.  I clicked on the site, but there were no "tips", just a bunch of links called "Top Online MBA Programs" and "Best Online Colleges", etc.

For grins, I clicked on "Top Online MBA Programs" and there was an assessment to link your goals to schools.  I put in the briefest of information and I was set up with 6 schools that were my so-called "best matches".

Then the phone calls started.  In a matter of 15 minutes I was called by all 6 of these schools.  These schools were not "top MBA programs", only the usual aggressive, for-profit schools you see on every paid listings and paid searches.

At least all the schools were regionally accredited.  Some of these lists show colleges that don't even make that criteria.  There are so many good online schools available.  Spend some research time to look at many online schools, not just the ones that show up on paid search listings.

Large Numbers of Adult Students Graduating

by Sandy Womack, Ed.D., Director, EduPlan

www.eduplan.org

Last weekend I was at Graduation at Northern Arizona University, here in my hometown of Flagstaff, AZ.  Graduation in 2009 is very different from my graduation for my doctorate in 1985.  I remember graduation being very formal and stately, with only a few cheers during the degree-granting ceremony.  Today, it is cheers, roars, and air horns.  Instead of staying for the entire graduation, families would stay until their graduate was announced and then all would troop out in mass.

One of the more gratifying things I saw was the large number of adult learners and working professionals gaining their degrees.  I saw older women in their cap and gown, having their pictures taken with their children and grandchildren.  I saw middle-aged men getting their degree, after "stopping out" for many years.  Some of the adult learners were picking up new skills with a degree in Medical Sciences or Nursing.  Some where finishing off a degree that they quit in their youth to get married or get a job.

Many of these adult learners got their degree from NAU, but had never been on campus before.  They took their classes at one of the many satellite campuses across Arizona or they took their classes online.  It made me realize that thousands of working professionals can balance school with work, family and other commitments.  All these new venues for gaining a degree (off-campus, weekend, evening, online) really helps part-time students and working professionals.

Do You Need to Attend a Prestigious University?

by Sandy Womack, Ed.D., Director, EduPlan

www.eduplan.org

A client of mine works for a high-tech company that reimburses employees $5K/year for education.  My client has always wanted to attend a very prestigious universitiy to finish his BS degree.  As a working professional in Colorado, he could have attended Denver University or University of Colorado part-time, but his dream was to get a degree from one of the top 20 schools in the country.

He found a full-time BS degree program at Columbia University, geared for transfer students, so this Fall he is quitting his job and moving to New York City.  I did not discourage him.  We had discussed the financial commitments of this degree and the cost of living in NY.  But this was his dream and he felt the benefits outweighted the cost.

Should you try for a prestigious school if you are a working professional?  My advice is to finish your undergraduate degree any way you can (school must be regionally accredited).  If a middle-of-the-road college is convenient, accelerated and allows you to transfer in many former credits, then finish that BA or BS degree.

If you are thinking about starting a graduate degree, you might want to try for the best school you can get in.  It is important to try for a more prestigious graduate school if you attended a good undergraduate university.  You don't want to "water down" your good undergraduate degree by attending "Joe's House of MBA's".

It is so important in today's world for most of us to have an undergraduate degree that I encourage you to work towards that degree, even if the school is not prestigious.  For graduate degrees, raise the bar and try for the best school you can.