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I'm fixing to be laid off in the next couple of months (I know, the level of control I happen to have is weird, they asked us who wanted to go). Somewhere on the ESC site I thought I'd read that if you are in school you can extend your benefits beyond the 26 week maximum (I know about the "immediate file" priviledge) and earn more than the maximum weekly (else, how are you going to pay tuition?), but I can't seem to find that info now.
Does anyone know anything about how being enrolled in school will affect my benefits?
Being in school has nothing to do with extending your benefits, however, it does impact when you start receiving benefits. If you received a severance package, going to school will allow you to start collecting unemployment while your severance is in effect. And to clarify. . . . "going to school" means taking a single class and it can be free and it can only last a day. . . or an hour :-) I signed up for an online programming class at Wake Tech. I know others that took free classes at Wake Tech for resume writing and such.
I'm fixing to be laid off in the next couple of months (I know, the level of control I happen to have is weird, they asked us who wanted to go). Somewhere on the ESC site I thought I'd read that if you are in school you can extend your benefits beyond the 26 week maximum (I know about the "immediate file" priviledge) and earn more than the maximum weekly (else, how are you going to pay tuition?), but I can't seem to find that info now.
Does anyone know anything about how being enrolled in school will affect my benefits?
Thanks in advance.
I thought that if you are in school for something DIFFERENT than you were laid off for, you can extend your benefits for the duration of your schooling. I am having trouble finding this documented anywhere, but I am pretty sure my brother-in-law is taking advantage of it going to UNCW.
Thanks Darman and Cheese! Both v. helpful answers. I too remember seeing something about being able to finish schooling, so if anyone has more info, pls chime in! And yes, I am getting a teaching degree coming from 14 years in IT.
I'm actually thinking about going back to school since it's darn impossible to find a job and I just got a notice that I'm about to exhaust my 26 week regular unemployment. I don't have the answer if going back to school has any affect on your collecting unemployment, but yeah, it would be nice to know. I do know that after your 26 weeks is up, you'll likely fall into extended benefits regardless of if you go to school or not. I don't exactly know the process of switching to extended benefits, but I guess I'm about to find out.
Must be nice to know that you're getting laid off in advance though. I had about...ummmmmmm...4 seconds advanced notice...I think I found out when the HR manager said, "Due to the drastic decline in work we have out on the production floor...". Yeah, that kinda gave it away.
It's tough and it ain't getting any better. Soon you'll be applying for jobs where you get either no reply or the job is no longer being offered. You might even apply for the same job multiple times and not even know it since the job market is so scarce. It's funny in a way...but it really isn't.
There is a program that has the government pay your tuition if you go back to school, but I don't know if it extends your unemployment benefits while you are in school. I decided to take some classes in my current field while unemployed, so I enrolled in an engineering class offered through University of California (NC State had nothing similar or I would have gone there). I also checked out the tuition reimbursement program by visiting the Cary ESC office and talking to one of their people there. They have an orientation that you can sign up for. The short and sweet version is that you are not guaranteed to get accepted to the program, but if you do, you have to use educational institutions approved by them (NC colleges, schools, and univ) and there is a $2K-$3K cap on tuition reimbursement.
Thanks Darman and Cheese! Both v. helpful answers. I too remember seeing something about being able to finish schooling, so if anyone has more info, pls chime in! And yes, I am getting a teaching degree coming from 14 years in IT.
I suggest calling/stopping by the ESC. If you live anywhere close to the Wake county border, I suggest finding the closest office outside. I live near Louisburg and went to that office and there was no one there. No wait at all.
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