Employer Paid MBA (employees, consulting, degrees, payments)
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An opportunity has arisen for me at my job to get an MBA that is pretty much 100% employer paid. Along with this comes with the commitment to pay the reimbursement back if I don't stay 2 years. Since the degree will take 3 years to complete, this leaves a commitment of 5 years with my employer to avoid having to pay for this myself. This applies if i voluntarily leave not if I am laid off
I would like to partake but am hesitant for a few reasons:
-The long term future of the company is questionable. In the short-medium term I'd say employment is pretty secure.
-The work environment is very poor, and although I have dealt with it for now(because the work is good for my career). I do not know if I want to deal with this for 5 more years.
-An abstract growth opportunity was presented, with no details about time frame and future positions.
I am definitely interested in pursuing the degree and believe the MBA will definitely add value to my career, however if given the choice to pursue this degree on my own dime, the answer would be a clear no.
I have a few questions:
Would you go ahead this offer?
If you decide no, how would you phrase your decline to avoid sending the message that you have one foot out the door? I have expressed and still do express interest about career growth.
No opinion on going ahead. I have a master's degree gained through evening study.
The subjects were usually quite analogous to an MBA-finance, leadership, organizational behavior, project management, marketing, etc, etc.
The way to bow out gracefully is to cite time commitment and that you can't do it justice with your work responsibilities and other commitments.
An evening degree is simply a lifestyle change. You're either in class, studying, talking to professors, or doing group or project work, virtually every night. There's not a whole lot of 'research' in the MBA arena that MBA students can participate in so that's not as much of an issue.
do you pay back full amount or whatever is "left"?
IE take the mba, then work 1 year and pay back 50% remaining since you already worked half the retribution period. would paying for half the mba out of pocket be easier?
if you had wanted mba originally, then it's a simple choice because you would have paid for one out of pocket regardless of employer involvement so paying them vs school makes no difference. but you said you wouldn't have if you paid yourself
So if you leave before 5 years you have to repay the employer for your MBA and you are planning to get your MBA anyways? It sounds like a no brainer to do it and then if you want to leave you just pay them off. But if you decide not to just cite personal reasons for not pursuing and you really don't owe them any explanation.
So if you leave before 5 years you have to repay the employer for your MBA and you are planning to get your MBA anyways? It sounds like a no brainer to do it and then if you want to leave you just pay them off. But if you decide not to just cite personal reasons for not pursuing and you really don't owe them any explanation.
Quote:
Originally Posted by MLSFan
do you pay back full amount or whatever is "left"?
IE take the mba, then work 1 year and pay back 50% remaining since you already worked half the retribution period. would paying for half the mba out of pocket be easier?
if you had wanted mba originally, then it's a simple choice because you would have paid for one out of pocket regardless of employer involvement so paying them vs school makes no difference. but you said you wouldn't have if you paid yourself
I get reimbursed per semester so if I leave in the middle, I pay for what's been reimbursed before 2 years.
If I leave in 4 years and payments for semester 1, 2 and 3 are more than 2 years past and semesters 4 and 5 are within, then I pay back for 4 and 5.
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Quote:
Originally Posted by jdm2008
An opportunity has arisen for me at my job to get an MBA that is pretty much 100% employer paid. Along with this comes with the commitment to pay the reimbursement back if I don't stay 2 years. Since the degree will take 3 years to complete, this leaves a commitment of 5 years with my employer to avoid having to pay for this myself. This applies if i voluntarily leave not if I am laid off
I would like to partake but am hesitant for a few reasons:
-The long term future of the company is questionable. In the short-medium term I'd say employment is pretty secure.
-The work environment is very poor, and although I have dealt with it for now(because the work is good for my career). I do not know if I want to deal with this for 5 more years.
-An abstract growth opportunity was presented, with no details about time frame and future positions.
I am definitely interested in pursuing the degree and believe the MBA will definitely add value to my career, however if given the choice to pursue this degree on my own dime, the answer would be a clear no.
I have a few questions:
Would you go ahead this offer?
If you decide no, how would you phrase your decline to avoid sending the message that you have one foot out the door? I have expressed and still do express interest about career growth.
Working full time while gaining an MBA is a tough go. Do you have a spouse and kids? If you do, it becomes even tougher. Don't get me wrong, MBA is NOT an academic degree (I have one) and it is the easiest Masters degree to obtain. However, time commitment will still be needed. And then there's the that whole "being tied" to your employer for the next few years thing.
I got my MBA full-time. Some of my classmates got theirs completely paid by the top-tier Management Consulting companies, with a requirement that they go back to their employer once they completed their degree. I don't know of one that was happy going back, and most if not all only fulfilled their minimum time requirement and left.
I think it's a no brainer. If the company did actually go under in 5 years then the worst case scenario is that you pay for your own MBA (which is still an awesome accomplishment). However that seems unlikely considering the benefit they are offering. Without knowing the company I can't really say but the risk sounds worth it to me.
I worked at a company 15 years ago that had a 100% tuition reimbursement benefit (unlimited) and a few people took advantage of the benefit to obtain graduate degrees (MS, MBA). They had a two year commitment back to the company once the degree was completed (if you left prior, you had to reimburse the last year of tuition). Most left the company after completing the degrees, as the degrees offered so much more marketability and all received significant pay increases.
A few things that you need to consider:
1. If the cost of the tuition exceeds the federally allowed annual amount which I believe is 5,250 per year, the company is obligated to report this as earnings, therefore, you might be responsible for the taxes. For example, tuition is 40K per year and the company covers it 100%, therefore, your taxable income will be 35K on which you will be paying federal and if applicable, state and local taxes. Unless, they gross up the amount, that is, give you additional money to cover the tax on the taxable portion of the tuition. Find out how it works so that you are not surprised with a huge tax bill at year-end.
2. If during this five year period, you do decide to leave, ask the new employer to pick up the cost of the tuition that you would owe back to the current employer. Many companies do that but not too many employees know that they can negotiate not just the pay at a new job but also, to be compensated for things that they leave on the table such as unvested stock option, year-end bonus if you left a couple of month before year-end because the new employer could not wait, or, any type of reimbursement that current employer has provided to you which has a catch.
3. I would totally go for it. It's rare that companies pay 100% these days.
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