Are you leaving money on the table?

For most working professionals going back to school is a tough decision because it involves rearranging your life, giving up your free time, and has financial implications too. If finances are standing in the way of fulfilling your dreams, I hope you know that the financial impact can be minimized with the help of your employer’s Tuition reimbursement benefits and partner school network discounts. The majority of the Fortune 1000 American employers now offer educational benefits in some form. Also, chances are that your employer works with a third-party education benefits administrator, who has a school network that offers additional tuition discounts.

What are the benefits of the school network?

The Edcor school network comprises cherry-picked schools of high repute and brand value, with regional and nation accreditations. All our school partners are aware of the impediments faced by adult learners and have learning and pedagogical pathways that suit the needs of the modern working professional who struggles to juggle work and life. Moreover, we supplement our school network with our Academic Advising services that are purely learner-centric and help in course completion keeping each learner’s unique journey in focus.

Edcor promotes schools in an unbiased and agnostic fashion and facilitates participation based on clients’ and employees’ learning needs only.  Since there’s no monetary incentive behind which school the learner utilizes, the focus is purely on the learner’s needs. Moreover, our school network partners extend discounts on tuition and Debt-free degrees to learners to remove the financial barriers in going back to school.

How you may be leaving money on the table?

1. By not asking your employer about education benefits, and not utilizing these benefits
2. By not asking the school you go to for the partner school network discount they provide

Asking your employer about the education benefits they offer, and learning more about the policies around these benefits can tremendously alleviate the financial impact of higher education. Moreover, knowing details about your third-party education benefits administrator and their school network help further reduce the tuition costs. It’s kind of similar to the in-network and out-of-network healthcare with your insurance provider if it helps to understand the concept. With the school network, you can access the same quality of education at better prices. The benefits are far stretched. With this network of schools, you can receive anywhere between 5 – 40% in tuition reduction which can practically lead to zero out-of-pocket cost degrees. What more? Some of them even offer dependent discounts. So the next time you enroll for a course, ask about partner school network discounts. Don’t leave money on the table!

How to access the partner school network discounts information?

Each Edcor client-employee is eligible for the partner school discount regardless of their benefit limit and eligibility for Tuition Assistance from their employers. The school network discounts are unquestionably the cherry on the cake. I can’t speak for any other player in the industry because everyone has a unique approach to the school network. However, I can confidently tell you what we do at Edcor – one of the nation’s biggest and most loved third-party education benefit providers. Each of our clients has an Education benefits site hosted on their intranet; this is where client-employees can see information on schools and the discounts.  There are no restrictions on schools or programs a learner can choose from. The learners can apply through this portal after garnering the information and making a choice about the school they want to go to.

How to get the discounts if applying directly to a partner school?

There may be cases when you – the client-employee – apply directly to the school instead of going through the Edcor portal. In such cases, we urge learners to identify themselves as Edcor partners and ask for the school network discounts. We have noticed that sometimes while applying directly to the schools learners do not identify themselves as Edcor partners. Therefore, they leave money on the table in the form of school tuitions discounts that they could’ve received. Please don’t be one of them.

Here’s the Checklist to ensure you covered all the bases:

☑ Ask your employer about Tuition Reimbursement, and your third-party Education Benefits provider.

☑ Go through the School Network partners of your third-party Education Benefits provider.

☑ Apply through the third-party Education Benefits provider portal for programs at a school of your choice.

☑ Make sure you receive the school network discount by checking with the school directly, even though you applied through the provider’s portal.

☑ If applying directly to a partner school, state your Education Benefits provider name and ask for the school network discounts.

Edcor, being a full-service provider, can support our client-employees through our Contact Center that uses cutting-edge technology, and has earned an Honorable mention in the Best in Class Contact Center category at the 2021 CCW Excellence Awards. Client-employees are welcome to reach out should they face any issues.