[Anonymous]

In general does anyone know how the big four firms handle advanced degrees and continuing education? If you express an interest in earning a master’s degree or going to law school do they generally pay for it all? Roughly how long do you have to stay with the firm after they pay for this?

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[Anonymous]

ppl who work at big 4 firms get slammed/abused with work so much they never have any time for a blog like this let alone time to study……….

[Anonymous]

They pay. I only know about kpmg, one of my school professors went to law school and requirement was to stay in a company three years after graduation.

[Anonymous]

Thanks

[Anonymous]

Any idea how about much they paid for tuition reimbursement?

[Anonymous]

I believe it depends on a company and your personal standing with them. For example Merryl Lynch only pays up to 6,000 a year for any school you choose, for any finance employee. KPMG, in that case, I think paid everything. So, it all depends.

[Anonymous]

Got it, thanks.

[Anonymous]

It depends. Some firms pay $5,250 per year or semester, some will pay for the entire thing. It also depends on the degree you are going for. The company I am starting with (mcgladrey) will only pay $5,250 per semester for an MSA (so, part time is almost all of it paid), but will reimburse an entire tuition bill for an MST, even if you take off two whole summers and each bill is $15,000.

I know that if you start with Delloite, & do a full time summer-to-summer program for grad school, they will pay some amount of grad school, and 80% of your salary while you are at school. One of my friends from PWC said they are paying $15,000 for grad school. They wanted her to start the summer before she started, so they would basically pay for the rest in the next summer since each semester is around $15,000. I think it depends on the firm, and their plan for you. They basically tell you when you can go to grad school.

But now, the big 4 wont even hire someone out of undergrad, they go will only hire out of MSA/MST/MBA programs (probably because they can no longer afford to be paying graduate tuition fees). That is new this year. I think EY is taking undergrad, but you have to tell them how you plan on getting your MSA asap. At least this is what I am hearing from my friends who are now seniors in college, in the interview process.

[Anonymous]

I would be careful about how much you get re-imbursed if you don't want to have some tax issues. An employer can reimburse up to $5250 per year without it being taxable to you. However, the rules are different if the education isn't required for your job. You may be subject to additional income taxes. I would read the IRS pub for education and look into it and also see if any of the education credits might be beneficial to you. Remember that if an employer re-imburses you, you can't claim the credits or any of the eligible deductions that might apply. Just an FYI so that there are no surprises……

[Anonymous]

If they are reimbursing you for an MSA, for example, it is required for your job because it is required for CPA certification to get those extra 30 credits, and becoming a CPA/being on the CPA track is a requirement for working with a public firm, at least the ones I've interviewed with. So I think a lot of companies will reimburse $5250 so that it is not taxable to you, (& obv not deductible as a credit to you) but the rest of tuition comes out of your pocket (which there will be, unless you are taking 1 class a year, because that is only enough for 1.5 classes) is deductible as a credit. I think if they reimburse anything over $5250 though, it is included in your W-2.. or at least its supposed to be. So, yeah you pay taxes on it.. but that sure beats paying a whole tuition amount! But, I think I get $5,250 which is still pretty good since I want to go part time.

[Anonymous]

That's interesting about Deloitte. I guess the biggest part is like you said ktsullivan what the people at the firm have in mind for you & how the politics play out before they invest in you.

[Author]

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