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Are You Ready to Go Back To School? |
August is traditionally considered as the “Back to School” time of the year. And every year millions of parents welcome the beginning of a new school year for their children by shopping for new backpacks filled with fresh school supplies, clothes and shoes. And many parents think they would go back to school themselves, as they wave good – bye from the bus stop. One of the biggest advantages of the online education is that in the majority of cases this “Back to School” mentality stays true all year around. It is never too late to begin thinking about the necessity to finish something you have started, as well as to begin something you never got a chance to start. So, you are quite ready to go back to school if: - You clearly understand what it is you have a desire to accomplish and you know how earning your degree will help you to in the achievement of that goal; - You realize that you are either not able to qualify for a pay raise or more into a management role without having a bachelor’s degree. In any of the cases, mentioned above going back to school would be one the smartest decision ever taken. Therefore, in case if you are looking forward to strengthening some specific professional or technical skills of yours, like project management skills or learning to program in JavaScrips, or if you simply wish to fill a gap in your knowledge of some fundamental, something like basic accounting rules, there is may not be a necessity to have a credential like a degree. In this case you may find the way out of the situation with the help of some single course or even set of courses (some certificate program). It is also possible to choose some non – credit option, like a book from Barnes and Noble or Amazon.com in order to meet your needs. Maintain perspective as to how this degree helps you in accomplishing your goals. And what you are to keep in mind is that in case if there appears any doubt as to why you may need this degree, chances are you will not be able to see the “big picture” later on down the road and risk the chance of losing motivation along the way. Your employer may ofer you tuition reimbursement as one of the benefits of employee. In accordance with the Untied States Bureau of Labor Statistics, more than half of companies, which have 100 or more employees provide some kind of tuition assistance, which is considered to be part of their benefits package. But it may seem that some companies prefer keeping their tuition assistance programs a secret; this is why it is completely up to you to find out whether it is available to you. And here are some factors, which should be taken into consideration, provided below: 1. How much you are going to be paid. In accordance with IRS regulation employers may provide their employees with up to $5,250 per year, tax free. And any additional compensation becomes taxed; this is why it would be much safer to assume your employer will not exceed that amount? But you really never know! 2. What are you going to be paid for. You should get to know whether tuition assistance will apply to your application fee or other costs. In addition to tuition and fees, it may be so that your company will even pay for all the curriculum and other related course materials. 3. Type of education. This issue is necessary to find out about, because it is not uncommon that company policy stipulates that they will pay 100 percent of the costs toward a degree or certification, but only 50 percent for personal interest courses. It is necessary to get to know about it, because as a rule employers verify that the educational establishment you attend is accredited by the accreditation agency, which is recognized either by the United States Department of Education or by the Council for Higher Education Accreditation – either of the organizations is authorized to recognize accrediting agencies. 4.Your grades. It would be advisable to find out how grades will affect your level of coverage, as it is possible that your employer will foot 100 percent of the bill in case if you get an “A”, 90 percent if you get a “B”, and so on and so forth. As a rule in order to become eligible for tuition reimbursement, a “C” or better is required. 5. When you are going to be paid. You will have to determine whether your employer will pay up in front at the beginning of the semester or whether you will have to come up with money for tuition first and after that for the reimbursement after you have already received all grades of yours. |