MBA Podcaster Blog

Let’s face it, getting an MBA is not cheap. Wouldn’t it be great if the MBA-tuition fairy granted your wish and paid for your MBA? So how do you summon such a fairy? It turns out that it might not be that hard. I’ve been working on an upcoming MBA Podcaster show titled “Getting Your Employer to ~~Support~~ Fund Your MBA.” The answer is very company specific. In the podcast, we’ll explore a variety of situations including people who work for companies who have existing programs for funding MBA’s and those whose companies don’t. Some of the questions we’ll address:

Why would a company fund your MBA?

Does it make a difference if you work at a small company or a large company?

Do economic hard times mean that continued education benefits are going by the wayside?

There’s no such thing as a free lunch, so what will having your employer pay for your MBA cost you - if it’s not money?

I’ll be asking these questions and more of my guests and keeping you posted along the way with blog updates.

One of the first people I talked with was Nicole, a financial services executive who went to a top 10 school. That’s not her real name, but she asked to remain anonymous because she works for a large company that doesn’t have an institutionalized program that funds MBA students.

In her case, her company offered to pay for her MBA because they wanted to hold onto her.

“It’s not something they offered; it’s something that I floated as a possibility to my boss indirectly. I guess once I tendered my resignation and let them know that I got into the school that I wanted to, that I was going to leave, they said well what if... we were to pay. My immediate boss said what type of a contract, what do you have in mind, what does it look like, what does it cost, how have you seen it done in other firms - make us a proposal because we’re open to it.”

When I asked Nicole why her company offered to pay, her answer was brief. “I did good work and we had a good relationship.”

She must have done REALLY good work and had a really good relationship with her boss. But it is not uncommon, especially at higher levels for companies use tuition reimbursement as a benefit to hold onto good talent.

Learn more of what Nicole and the other guests have to say about company-financed MBAs in our upcoming show that will be in a couple of weeks. Other guests on the show include:

Lynda Boman, principal, Boman Accounting Group, who will address what you need to know for your tax return if your company pays for your MBA;
John Gianvittorio, manager at Raytheon and student UCLA Anderson School, who says that the economy hasn’t affected Raytheon’s decision to fund MBA’s;
Jay, small tech business owner, who will talk about what it would take for him to sponsor an employee;
Karla Krause, student, MIT Leaders for Global Operations program, who will talk about Dell’s fellowship program;
Yvon Le Renard, executive at Alcatel (a French telecommunications firm) and student at Kellog-Hong Kong University of Science and Technology’s Executive MBA program, who gives the best argument in support of your case for company funding;
Jennifer Powers, Manager of Marketing and Business Development for the City of Brampton, in Ontario, Canada, who will discuss why she decided to fund her MBA herself; and
YoichiN, a financial services manager and MBA student, who will discuss what he owes his company in return for tuition reimbursement.