The Expense of Education

Most businesses don’t need to be convinced that education is a benefit both for their employees and for their organizations, but they do want to know what they are getting for their tuition-reimbursement dollars.

Of the 1,750 students in the part-time Master of Business Administration program at the Carlson School of Management, for example, about 40 percent are fully funded by tuition reimbursement from their employer. The percentage is roughly the same at Metropolitan State University in St. Paul, and Concordia University in St. Paul, and is over 50 percent at St. Thomas. Such numbers suggest that businesses definitely see a value in offering educational opportunities to their employees.

“The benefit is immediate,” says Kathryn Carlson, the assistant dean of executive education, for part-time and executive MBA programs at the University of Minnesota’s Carlson School. “Employees come back as better strategic thinkers. They’re more confident, they have new skills, they’re better communicators. They’re probably happier employees.”

Often, that results in a longer tenure with the company. Dave Brennan, assistant dean of graduate business programs at St. Thomas, says that although gaining new knowledge and new skills are the primary motivation for businesses to reimburse tuition expenses, improving retention is also an important factor. “It provides a retention mechanism, because the company has decided to invest in them as employees,” he says.

Gary Seiler, the dean of the College of Management at Metropolitan State, compares the investment in employee education to an investment in capital equipment. “You need to continuously update in order to be viable,” Seilor says. “Continuing education is one route to achieving that.”

Power of Accreditation

But just as evaluating the validity of capital investments before committing cash to the purchase is a sound business practice, so is evaluating the validity of an educational institution before committing tuition dollars.

“One of the most important issues to look for is whether or not the institution is accredited by the Higher Learning Commission,” says Bob DeGregorio, dean of the College of Business and Organizational Leadership at Concordia University. The Higher Learning Commission is part of the North Central Association of Colleges and Schools, which accredits educational institutions in 19 states, covering the country from Arkansas to Arizona, including Minnesota. The Higher Learning Commission is just one of the agencies approved by the U.S. Department of Education to provide accreditation for schools that demonstrate an acceptable quality of education.