Companies paying staffers’ tuition has become commonplace – As an undergraduate, a degree meant advancement. Today, advanced education means staying employable.

Lisa Nebeker, a longtime Questar employee, is working on her master’s degree at the University of Phoenix with her education paid for by her employer. Here she stands in front of a graphic from a PowerPoint application she used in one of her class projects. In 2003, 72 percent of U.S. companies offered tuition benefits.

By Kathy Gurchiek
The Salt Lake Tribune

http://www.sltrib.com/2004/Jan/01262004/business/business.asp

Lisa Nebeker has incentive to study hard in her organization management class.

If the Questar employee receives a C or better, her company will reimburse 100 percent of her tuition, books and lab fees. Last semester, that amounted to a $1,300 savings for the Salt Lake City resident.

"This has made all the difference," said Nebeker, a personnel representative at Questar. College would have been beyond her reach financially without company assistance, she added, citing her use of the company benefit to secure an undergraduate degree 14 years ago from the University of Phoenix and her reliance on it once again for her master’s degree.

As an undergraduate, a degree meant advancement. Today, advanced education means staying employable.

Nebeker is taking advantage of a company benefit offered by a majority of corporations nationwide. A survey by the Virginia-based Society of Human Resource Management (SHRM) found that in 2003, 72 percent of employers offered tuition reimbursement for undergraduate work; 69 percent provided assistance for graduate school. That is down slightly from 2002, when 79 percent of companies reimbursed tuition expenses, and down from 85 percent in 1999.

SHRM board member Janet Parker thinks an economic upturn will improve those numbers.

"A lot of employers are striving to be that employer of choice . . . and that’s one of those benefits that sets you apart," said Parker, senior vice president of corporate employee relations at AMSouth Bank in Alabama.

Employees who successfully complete course work or certification have some or all of their education paid for — a tax-free perk that, under federal law since 1997, covers job-related course work up to a maximum of $5,250 per year. Employers get workers with sharpened or new skills that add value to the organization and some even offer monetary rewards for successful completion of degrees or certification.

A number of Utah businesses offer tuition reimbursement, with employees often having a wide choice of educational choices. Jeri Cartwright of Cartwright Communications in Salt Lake City, whose clients include the University of Phoenix, estimated 60 percent to 70 percent of that school’s 3,500 students receive some form of employer tuition reimbursement.

Employers support the concept because it improves the quality of their work force.

"You have to have education assistance to compete for top talent," said Gary A. Petersen, vice president for Shim Enterprise. The aid offered by his company, which has an office in Layton and is primarily a government contractor, covers workshops, seminars, conferences, college classes, certification and online training.

The benefit attracts "employees who are willing to learn, looking to grow and are more adaptable in the work environment," said Peterson, who noted that 54 percent of Shim’s 65 employees used the benefit in 2003.

Salt Lake City’s ARUP Laboratories, one of Fortune magazine’s "100 Best Companies to Work For" the last two years, has offered the benefit since the company’s inception in 1984, said Scott McKinlay, director of human resources. Education is valued and seen as a recruitment and retention tool for its 1,600 employees. During 2003, 242 employees used the benefit.

"We want smart people working for us," McKinlay said.

Eligibility and reimbursement amounts differ among companies. Most have ceilings on the dollar amount available — Shim’s is $3,000 and Questar’s is $3,500 per calendar year. Some require schooling to be tied to the employee’s current or future work at the company. Others, such as ARUP, also extend tuition reimbursement opportunities to the spouse or dependent children of eligible employees; last year, 119 used it.

Like Questar, Shim provides 100 percent reimbursement for full-time employees, but only if employees get A’s, B’s or complete certification.

At ARUP, employees must receive a grade of C-minus or better. Those studying for degrees in certain specializations and working at least 20 hours are eligible for 100 percent reimbursement at an accredited institution. For everyone else, the percentage depends on the number of hours worked. For example, an employee working 30-plus hours is eligible for 75 percent reimbursement. There is no requirement that employees using the benefit remain at the company for a certain length of time, McKinlay said.

For some companies, tuition reimbursement is a way to plan for the future as the last of the baby boomer generation retires.

"We’ve got a lot of boomers who are going to be jumping ship . . . within the next 10 years and employers have to plan for that," SHRM’s Parker pointed out. "You’ve got to start thinking now ‘how do we cultivate and how do we motivate and how do we retain people in the work force’ " when the workers retire a decade from now.

Questar is one of those companies that will be facing a sizable turnover within its ranks in the next years, and Utah spokesman Chad Jones said the company is using tuition reimbursements to help prepare for that. Last year, the corporation paid out $200,000 in tuition reimbursements.

"We’ve identified an emerging shortage of skilled people," Jones said. "We want to make sure the people we have on board have the skills . . . so we can promote from within."