With college tuition prices skyrocketing, tuition reimbursement and student loan repayment programs are great ways to attract talent
What a tuition reimbursement can do for you
What a student loan repayment plan can do for you
Things to consider before doing either once
Quote of the lesson from Arthur Ashe

With the ongoing burden that student loan debt has become in our country employee tuition reimbursement and student loan repayment programs are a great way to either increase you education while paying nothing or a fraction of the cost, or reduce your current outstanding loan balance.
Today we continue our series we started last lesson looking at employee benefits that you are missing out on. While they might seem similar tuition reimbursement programs and student loan repayment programs are two different things.
Tuition Reimbursement
Tuition reimbursement programs work like this: you go to school to further your education and knowledge in a particular subject. After you prove that you passed the class, your employer will pay for some or all of the tuition.
This can be a great way to increase your value in the market place for a lot less than what it would cost you if you did it on your own. It also ties you closer to your employer as they are investing money in not only your future success but the company’s future success as well.
Before you consider going back to school because of tuition reimbursement consider the following things:
How much does the company cover?-Not all plans are 100% covered. Some are a lot less than that and others are tied to the grade that you get.
What will be the method you pay?-Your company will reimburse you once you can prove that you passed the course, but it is usually up to you to pay the institution upfront for the class. How will you come up with the money to pay? I would never recommend a student loan but what can you do to come up with the cash up front?
Is this something you want a degree in?-You can’t just get any old degree that you want. It has to be a degree that your company deems as beneficial to the role you are in. So if you aren’t really excited about what you are doing now, how is a degree or certification going to change that?
Is there are time period you have to work at the company after the reimbursement?-Your company is going to be investing a lot of money in your pursuit of this degree, and often there is a time period in which you need to stay with the company or you will have to pay back all or a portion of the tuition reimbursement. So do you like the company? Do you plan to be there regardless of whether you get a degree there or not?
If the tuition is not 100% covered, is this still a good deal for you?-Just because you are getting a tuition discount, it doesn’t necessarily mean it might still be a good deal for you. Again if you don’t want to stay with the company or are thinking about a career change to another field, spending the money and time to get the degree might not yield a proper payoff.
Student Loan Repayment
But what if you already went to school, and got your degree or not, and ended up with any kind of student loans? There are a small but growing number of firms that are offering that are trying to attract employees by offering to repay part of their student loans directly to the student loan servicer.
Now before you get too excited, realize that as of now the amount they are offering to pay is very