It seems as though you might be more likely to earn the benefit at private colleges nowadays compared to public ones. I would search at universities in areas where you are interested in living and do a web search on the university’s name and “tuition remission” or look through the benefits page under Careers/Benefits/Human Resources or some category like that. You may even see if the two colleges you’re thinking about have that as an option.
If the job were to be full-time during the day (like 8-5 M-F) then the university would need to have more robust evening/weekend options. But many other jobs (food service/maintenance/security) would likely have hours outside of normal instructional time. You would be kept busy, but you’d be earning money and getting tuition free.
Is there a reason why you go through jobs “like nothing?” If you are interested in getting an education paid for by an employer (whether a university or one of the big companies like Starbucks), then you will need to stick with the same employer, at least while you are in school.
I just did a search for Pennsylvania tuition remission for full time university employees and had several results pop up. These were the first ones, but there are undoubtedly others:
Penn State system appears to be a 75% discount on tuition, up to 16 credits per academic year for the employee. Educational benefits start immediately (but can’t start in the middle of a semester). So if you start working August 1 and classes start August 3, you would be eligible to take classes that fall with a 75% discount.
York College appears to cover 100% of tuition when working towards a bachelor’s degree and lets you use your employee lunch time to take classes so long as you’re employed prior to the start of the semester.
Kutztown has tuition waiver benefits. Eligibility depends on the type of employee.
University of Pittsburgh’s program also appears to apply to part-time staff. The university pays 97% and the student pays 3% for up to 8 credit hours. For part-time employees the number of hours it pays toward is dependent on how close to full-time you are.
West Chester University has a 100% full waiver for up to 6 credit hours/semester once employees have worked at the university for at least 6 months by the date of late registration for the semester.
Do these specify whether these credits can accumulate towards a degree? It seems to me that places like Penn wouldn’t necessarily allow employees to earn a Penn degree via this path. Just thinking out loud here.
If you don’t have an undergraduate degree, you can apply to earn a Bachelor of Applied Arts and Sciences degree, enroll in individual courses, or earn a certificate through Penn LPS Online. Consult the “Using Your Tuition Benefit” page for additional information on how this process works.
Benefits for spouses and dependents usually do not have the credit hour limitation, so spouses and dependents could go to school full-time at most of these universities. As @thumper1 indicated, though, they would need to be admitted to the university.
I have a friend who works at the university of Penn hospital, so hoping her daughter would be admitted (sent her to a great private school, although due to their public school choices would’ve gone the private route regardless), but it didn’t happen.
I’ll look into that because that may be something I consider.
But I’m an opportunist. And I work in the restaurant industry, so the job turnover rate is high. I also like doing new stuff every once and a while. Like I’ve kept jobs for a while, but I don’t know if I want to rely on a job for schooling because I feel like I can easily get take advantage of that way, and I don’t want to have to worry if I lose the job.
How often do you hop around from one job to another? What’s the longest you’ve stayed at one job so far?
I’m asking because once you are in college and you’re trying to get stuff like internships and other opportunities which might help your full time employment options at graduation, not sticking to one thing for very long will be perceived by employers as “Hm, maybe this person isn’t going to be very reliable of an employee.”
I am not saying that IS what you’re doing. I’m just explaining how an employer in the “non-restaurant-industry” will perceive it.
I understand you don’t get along with your parents. Is there another adult-aunts, uncles, older cousins, a pastor-who you trust to advise you in this? Your path ahead will be very hard-it can be done by those with a clear-eyed understanding of the situation and the realistic options and tradeoffs. It is difficult, and unusual, for a teen to have perspective on that, but perhaps you could reach out to an older relative who can help you sort through your next actions.
I understand that OP is looking for a benefit for herself which is why my original post with tuition remissions was all about policies for the employee (i.e., what the OP would plan on being). I added the info about dependents/spouses for anyone reading the thread in the future who might find that information useful.
I haven’t thought about law schools yet except the one local one. I have no clue what my LSAT score may be at this point. I’m not even a freshman in college yet. But I already committed to the $22,000 school
No, that’s not what I meant by job jumping. I’ve held two jobs at once. Stayed at my one job for a year and a half. The restaurant industry has a high-turnover rate, and I want to move up positions. In this industry, you get stuck in your starting position a lot, so you have to move on to better things.
I don’t think that most employers are trying to take advantage of their employees, and if they are doing something improper then legal complaints can be filed. But I understand your reluctance to tie yourself to an institution for a number of years. At the same time, though, there are advantages that different employers offer. Starbucks only requires employees to work 20 hours to get the tuition benefits. I think some of the other big employers (Wal-Mart and Target perhaps?) also extend the benefit to part-time employees.
You are in the position of needing to fund your college education all by yourself. College in the U.S. is expensive.
The military is one option to earn a free education, but you’ve indicated that it’s not the path for you.
The next least expensive route (normally) is to choose a community college for two years and then transfer to a public university for the remaining two years, ideally while living in a cheap living situation.
Then there might be other college options that we could discuss if you’re not set on the two local colleges you’re deciding that would be lower cost. If you would like to share some information like your GPA, test scores, whether you have special characteristics (underrepresented minority, first generation college student, legacy student, etc), extracurricular involvement/leadership/awards, that can help the board find other lower cost options for you. GPA and test scores would probably be the easiest information to share for people to look for which automatic scholarships you might qualify for so that you can attend an institution for less than $22k/year.
There’s also the possibility of working for a nonmilitary employer that will help cover your tuition. Some employers offer free tuition through online programs like Arizona State or Purdue Global. Others offer up to $5,000 or so to go to the institution of your choice. Or work at a college full-time and then work on your degree part-time for free.
But at some point here, something needs to give to make your degree possible because it doesn’t sound as though depending on your family to cosign for loans will work, especially not in the long-term as they may not qualify for additional loans or be willing to sign for them, and you may not want to have that dynamic in your relationship with them. And you are unable to take out loans in your name for $22k (or more) per year.
Let us know what next steps you’re thinking about and we’ll do our best to help.