Approaching Your Employer about Financing Your MHA

Does your employer offer assistance with financing education for employees? The answer might surprise you. Many organizations financially contribute to their employees’ education as part of a competitive benefits package, and yours might be one of them. Tuition remission, tuition benefits, or tuition reimbursement, is when an employer provides some form of financial support for educational coursework. It can have many forms and your employer will stipulate the terms of the benefit, including how much they cover, when you receive the funding, what coursework is eligible.  

 

If you are considering going back to school for a degree like NYU Wagner’s Online Master of Health Administration (MHA), finding out more about your employer’s education benefits is a wise financial move. Here are some ways to get started:

Do Your Research 

A little preparation can go a long way when it comes to approaching your company about financing your degree. 

 

Before starting anything, you’ll want to research whether your employer regularly offers education benefits, or if you’ll be blazing a new trail. If your company has an existing policy, you can often find information about it in your employee handbook or human resources (HR) website. If an employer reimbursement plan isn’t something that’s been offered in the past, however, that doesn’t mean it isn’t possible. It’s just a good idea to know before you make any requests.

 

Whether your employer has a set policy or not, you’ll want to gather a variety of material before approaching anyone, so that you know exactly what your needs will be throughout your program. Spend some time gathering information on how many courses you need to take, what the tuition and fees for the program are, and what deadlines the program has for financial aid applications and payments. For NYU Wagner’s Online MHA degree program, you can find this information on the Cost, Aid, and Assistance page on our website or by contacting an Enrollment advisor by email or phone at 646.362.5441 .

 

Discuss Reimbursement Plans with the Right Person 

Once you’ve decided to apply to a part-time MHA program, you’ll want to inform your boss of your plans. However, HR is the best first stop for information on fringe benefits like tuition reimbursement programs, says Alana Integlia, Assistant Director of Admissions and Financial Aid at NYU Wagner. 

 

More than anyone else at a company, HR understands the benefits that are available to employees and can help you strategize the best way to use them. “Make sure you are upfront with them about the program and how many courses you are expected to take in a year,” says Integlia. “Your employer may only cover a certain number of credits, so letting them know the details of the program can help them make sure that you are able to best utilize your tuition remission.”

 

Make a Case for Tuition Reimbursement

Although many organizations have a tuition reimbursement benefit, some may require you to make a case for why you are eligible. For example, your company may only cover your tuition if your degree is in the same field as your organization, or if it will better prepare you to do your job. 

 

"To make a business case, the employee should link his or her current and future role and responsibilities to the organizational strategic priorities," says Julene Campion, a member of NYU Wagner’s Online MHA faculty and the Vice President of Talent, Organizational Development, and Learning at Geisinger, an integrated healthcare system. "Demonstrating the specific additional value the employee can add with the degree is critical to gaining support."

 

Laying out all you hope to gain from the degree, and how it will directly benefit your employer, can help you make a case to HR and your boss for why they should provide some tuition assistance. For example, says Campion, "as healthcare becomes more and more competitive and transitions from a fee-for-service to a value-based model, leaders will be required to have a broader understanding of the business. In particular, healthcare leaders will need to be very well-versed in the relationship between payer and provider." It is exactly this sort of broad understanding that an MHA can help provide.

 

Most organizations understand that offering tuition reimbursement benefits help to reduce turnover and improve employee morale, but you can focus on how what you are learning will allow you to do more for the company and move ahead in their ranks.

 

Address Any Concerns

A master’s degree is a big undertaking, and your employer will want to know you can handle the challenge on top of your usual workload. Make sure to address these concerns head on, by showing how you've been able to multitask at work in the past, and explaining all the ways that your graduate degree will benefit the company in the short- and long-term.

 

Another issue that might arise? Your loyalty to the company. "Organizations often worry about investing in an employee and then they leave for another opportunity," says Campion. "To help address these concerns up front, an employee may formally commit to a number of years post-graduation, depending on the amount of support received. For example, if the employee receives $20,000 in tuition support, she may commit to staying at the organization for a minimum of two years post-graduation." 

 

Follow Up Appropriately

If, after taking all the steps above, the answer is “no,” don’t lose hope. There are other options for financial aid and you can always try again next semester, in case anything has changed. Further, some employers may not offer tuition reimbursement programs, but can help you obtain your degree in other ways, like providing tuition assistance in the form of low-interest education loans or giving you a more flexible schedule.

 

If the answer is yes, now is the right time to work with HR in order to figure out exactly how your education benefits work. Integlia advises, “Make sure to find out how it is disbursed, when it is processed, and if it is taxed—and if so, how much will come out of your paycheck and when.” Each of these pieces of information will help you most effectively use the benefits, and starting early will allow you time to figure everything out before you begin classes. 

 

Investing in an Online Master of Health Administration degree can be a wise decision with an excellent ROI for both you and your employer. For an organization, offering tuition reimbursement for the program helps reduce turnover and improves their workforce, by helping employees build their knowledge and skills in the field. For an individual, it is a higher education degree that can be obtained while they continue to work and move forward in their healthcare careers.

 

If you’re interested in pursuing your MHA, please contact us with any questions you may have. Our Enrollment Advisors are here to help you with your questions about tuition assistance and financing your degree.