More Money Podcast - 097 Listener Series - How to Get Your Employer to Pay for Your Degree

Episode Date: March 16, 2017

Colton from Newfoundland chats with me for this episode of my Listener Series to share how he was able to find an employer that not only helped him earn a salary while being a student, but also to pay for his Bachelor's degree! Long description: I'm so glad Colton from Newfoundland emailed me to be a guest for my Listener Series, because I certainly missed the few weeks without Listener Series episodes, how about you? What I loved about this interview is that Colton offers some very practical and actionable advice on how to go to university without relying on student loans. I'm almost ashamed to say I'd never thought about finding a job while in university that could also help pay for it! Looking back, now I see there were and are so many options to make money as a student that also extra perks. As Colton mentioned for instance, if you work at Starbucks you don't just get a free pound of coffee a week, you also get stock options after a few years. And if you're a server or bartender, you get tips (which could add up to a lot). And many cell phone companies offer special bonuses, commissions on top of pay and other benefits too. Thanks again Colton for chatting with me (even if you did have to talk a bit slower for me, and I thought I talked fast!). I know your story will help so many other students (or future students) listening! Want to Be a Guest on My Show? Got a story that you think would be good to share on an episode on of Listener series? Please email me! Helpful Resources I spent a good amount of time the past few years creating resources to help you with your money, life and adding more balance into the mix. Check them out on my resources page. For more podcast episodes, check out the podcast page. Show notes: jessicamoorhouse.com/97 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Hello, and welcome to Episode 97 and another listener series episode to delight your ears. I am your host, Jessica Morehouse. And today I am talking to Colton from Newfoundland, Newfoundland, Newfoundland. I'm never sure how to pronounce it. But I've basically whenever I say it, I'm told I'm pronouncing it wrong. So my apologies. Beautiful province in this wonderful country of Canada. And apparently, I also didn't know this, people that live in Newfoundland, apparently they speak very fast. And he had to basically slow down his talking so I can understand it. And I thought I was a fast talker, but apparently I was nothing to compete with his fast talking. So this episode, me and Colton chat about his story. And he gives some really

freaking great advice on how to manage to go to university without getting into a boatload of debt. And he did it kind of just like a very practical way, getting a job that has some extra benefits to help you put yourself through school. So we talk about that in this episode, and I'm going to stop yabbing so we can get to that interview. Thanks, Colton, for joining me on the show. I'm so glad that you wrote into me so you could be part of my listener series. Really appreciate it. It's awesome being here. Yeah. And so you tell me that you're from the East Coast. Where exactly are you from? I was born in Nova Scotia and then I jumped over to Newfoundland, St. John's for my university degree. Very cool. How do you like it there?

Here's beautiful. It's cold. cold yeah i hear it's cold too but during the summer is it less cold or still cold uh they kind of get the two extremes so from november to may you're freezing and then for one glorious slice of july to august you're boiling in your in your skin so oh my gosh there's kind of no good middle ground huh no there's no good middle ground well i still it's in my plans to uh visit newfoundland i don't know whether i'll do it this summer or not but i definitely have a a trip plan to go to the maritimes and then visit like no scotia new brunswick this year so start weird i think we might be driving so we might maybe make it a road trip thing. Oh, dear.

No? Is it a far drive? I don't even know. It's not a hard drive up until you get to the ferry that takes you to Newfoundland. Oh, really? And then it's just, yeah. Oh, dear. Okay.

Maybe I'll do some research first and see if I'm up for it. Anyways, but I would love to chat about what you wrote into me. I'm so glad that you sent me an email telling me about your story because I think it's really interesting. So you moved to Newfoundland because you wanted to go to the university there, right? Yeah. And something that Newfoundland is really kind of known for, at least where I'm from, is that Memorial is their only actual post-secondary university. They do have a couple of – sorry? Is it? I didn't know that. Yeah, it's the only major one they have.

They do have a few community colleges and stuff like that, but Memorial is the only actual university. So what that does is when the Newfoundland government gives out their money to their schools, Memorial gets it all. Oh, I see. So tuition is very, very inexpensive. Okay. So that's a big reason why you chose to go to that university just because you knew you'd be able to get some scholarships or grants? Sort of, yeah. But even more is like in my home province, going to the nearest university to me would cost me, I think it was like $6, for two semesters at munn it was 2500 oh my gosh that's a big difference right so i just i

saw that it's like no no we're going to munn i'm not i don't want to deal with the loans and i'm all done absolutely that's a smart i mean that's really smart of you to realize that you know before jumping into university i think honestly at the end of the day like students generally don't really think of the dollar amount when it comes to picking university they want to go to the school with the program that they want or you know the best school or the closest school or something like that so i think that's a good on you for you know realizing the value of going to a out of province school to save on tuition yeah i mean part, like, I wanted to go to my program, but I kind of won the lottery in that.

The MUN offers almost every program imaginable. I think the only one they don't have right now is law. Okay. They have dentists. They don't have dentistry. Never mind, they don't have dentistry and law. They have med school. They have post-secondary, like, graduate school psychology level.

They do heavy into science and businesses. So it's very easy for anyone who wants to go there just to go there and at least see what it is. Yeah. My original choice though was Quebec because they are a little bit cheaper, but then I found out you have to be a resident of Quebec and you have to be bilingual. Oh, I see. Yeah, that does kind of put a crux in your plans. Awesome. So what program did you decide to go to? When I got there in 2011, I wanted to do psychology, but I was only kind of going into it because like when I was younger, that's what I want to do. That's what I always thought I want to do. And then I got there and I didn't really like it.

Yeah. Possibly also because I was a lot younger then. I was like, I don't want to be doing this right now. I kind of want it to be a year off. So I was doing that for a year and a half. I had a student loan. And then I was working with a company. And that's part of the thing I really want to let people know is that a lot of companies have really nice fringe benefits and things they don't tell you, but it's there. And you're more than able to pick them up. So I was looking into it, and my manager told me that there's an opening back in Halifax. Do you want to take it?

It's just to be a manager for another store. I was like, sure, I'll take it. I applied for it. We thought it would be a good experience for me to do the interview process and see if I'd actually get it, and then I got it. So then I went to Halifax for three years. And while I was there, I paid off my student loan, and I was really able to see what I wanted to do. Yeah. Cause I knew it wasn't, I didn't want to stay working for that store for the majority of

my career, but I did want to do something and they were paying me a good income. Yeah. So I paid off a student loan. I figured I really did want to go back for psychology. I really did want to do what I originally went in to do it. But while I was looking into it, I found out that my company will reimburse me my tuition. Ooh, that's nice. As long as that course in the broadest sense of term will go and be somewhat related to what the company does first. Wow. So, wow, that's pretty awesome because I like the idea that you, you kind of knew yourself well enough that you're like, I need a break to really figure out if this is what I want to do because I feel like a lot of students jump into university and choose a program because they're forced to choose a major right away. And they just kind of like, oh, I'll just stick with it because I've already done this many credits. But they don't necessarily take the time to really consider, is this

what I want to do? So I think that's really cool that you did a year. You need some time to really think about it. And then during that time that you're thinking about it, you were working, you were paying off your state loan, you were, you know, growing your net worth by making some money. And then, you know, the benefit is your company is now paying for your tuition. So that's awesome. Yeah.

And the thing is, I don't think many people realize, but if you're just going into university and you're getting like that part-time job, a very large number of them have really, really good, like RRSP matching and they also do stocks and a lot of them will cover university courses. Is it more that though you have to work full-time for a company to kind of get some of those benefits? I know that's sometimes the case, maybe not always. Some, yeah, but some will have like benefits set up where you don't get the health benefits until your full-time, but they'll give you everything else when you're part-time. Really? Yeah. So it's really just a matter of, you know, kind of taking that extra step and looking into if this company that you're working

for part-time just to make some extra money while you're in school actually does have some things because yeah in general i think they probably don't promote those types of things no they really don't and can i like say a company on like on this yeah yeah because like um i won't say my company but i do know a couple friends who work for starbucks yeah they give you free stock after two years oh really yep so like that's something they can use towards actually saving for school or paying down debt because they're just giving stock in Starbucks after two years. Well, that's pretty decent. And there's, I mean, a lot of Starbucks jobs around because there's a Starbucks on every corner, it seems. Well, that's interesting. That's very cool. So now you've decided to,

you know, you worked full time for that company for a little while and you've decided to go back to school and complete your degree? Yeah. So I'm, I don't even know how far I'm in anymore. I'm so many years into the program. And while I'm here, I was, I was looking in the jobs, jobs, job prospects of my degree when I'm done. And it wasn't the nicest prognosis I saw. So I went and I went and I spoke to the undergrad officer here at MUN and she basically said, well, if you like this program, you can take what's called the doc program of set degrees. One of those would be psychology. And basically what the doc program is,

is it allows you to skip the master's and get your doctorate. Oh, really? Yep. So you have to have an honors and your bachelor. Right. And then if you apply for the program, if you're accepted, they allow you into it. And the PsyDoc program is essentially getting a doctorate without doing the master's. Oh, wow. Is that just a thing? I don't know if you know this, but is that just a thing with Memorial University? Or do you think this is offered to other universities? They do offer to other universities, but it depends on what program they're going to find it in. Okay. So that's interesting.

Yeah. The point behind the doc program is people who don't want to do the research, they want to do more of the actual hands-on. Yeah. So for me, if I want to do research psychology, I'd have to get a PhDd but yeah i just want to practice it i want to get side doc yeah okay cool and so uh i'm curious once so you're still are you still doing your bachelor's or you're in the doc program i'm still doing the bachelor's okay so you're a little while away but it's kind of the i guess your end goal to be able to be a psychologist or psychiatrist and open your own practice? Yeah. Very cool. So really you're going to be a business owner, an entrepreneur. Doing the business minor now. Yeah. That's awesome. That's awesome. I feel like that was

actually one of the, it's funny to say that now that I'm self-employed, but one of my, not dreams, but when I was younger, I thought I wanted to be a dentist. I don't know why. I have no desire to do that at all now. But at the time, I was thinking, maybe I could be a dentist. That seems like a good job to do. And honestly, the reason I didn't pursue it at all was because I didn't like the idea of being a business owner. I thought I'd like doing the actual practical stuff of cleaning teeth and putting braces on people, but the idea of actually owning my own business and having staff, that freaked me out when I was younger. Isn't that funny? It is funny. And I have friends

who are doing the dental program right now. And I just want to tell you that you dodged a bullet. Oh, really? I don't think they've slept in three years. Oh, gosh. Yeah. I don't think i would have made it far that's for sure i'd probably like yeah no not what i thought i was getting myself into because every now and then they'll send me a message like this is what i'm studying and it just looks like this giant chalkboard of just different colors and i don't know what's happening oh no yeah no that's just not for me i think i'm a bit too uh i'm just not i don't have the kind of the science you know math thing going for me even though i'm a personal finance nerd. That's just not my jam. I'm more of a, I think artiste at heart.

Get groceries delivered across the GTA from real Canadian superstore with PC express shop online for super prices and super savings. Try it today and get up to $75 in PC Optimum Points. Visit superstore.ca to get started. Oh, wow. Well, okay, so I would love to know because you basically were able to kind of do what you want to do, get your education, also some work experience in there, but kind of doing a different route.

You took a break within your university degree to kind of do this other thing, which I think is something that I think a lot of other people should kind of consider or explore. I think a lot of people, you know, think the right thing to do, the route you're supposed to take is right after high school, go to university, get your degree, and then you get a job and then just work your job and work your way up the ladder. That's certainly what I thought when I was going into university. And it was really kind of drilled into me that, you know, say I took a year off between high school and university, you know, the chances of

me actually going to university were slim just because I guess it was a big fear of my parents or just, you know, teachers that if you take that break, you may get lazy or you just may not be as motivated to go to post-secondary education, even though I'm sure I would have definitely wanted to go to university because working at some job at the mall like I was part-time, full-time for a year would have kind of drove me a bit crazy. But I also didn't think that it was really an option when I was doing my degree to take a break within that to maybe explore other options, to work options to work full time, make some money, go traveling, figure out more about myself. I thought I really did have to just like, you know, power through it and finish it. But it seems like because you didn't do that typical

route, it's really worked out in your favor. Yeah. I mean, when I first got to Milan for my first year, I was, I was okay for my first year. I did okay marks. It was the best. Yeah. But then when I started my second year, I was really didn't like it I um yeah I was finding it really really tedious I didn't like the entire like okay get up go to school come home then go to work then go back and then over and over again and I was also just kind of younger and I just really didn't see that that's what I wanted to do right then so I was um when I got the job to go to Halifax, before I even accepted it, I looked over the entire compensation package

because a lot of companies, you only really look at your salary, but they do offer you a lot more. So this one was a lot of the money I was going to be making would be in the forms of bonuses or commission. So I was like, okay, I know how much I'm going to be getting for my salary, but the bonuses and commission is essentially free money.

So I can just put that towards my debt that I have. Yeah, that's smart. So all I did was I got a paycheck out of the job. It just went into my bank account and made it lead towards the student loans. And then while I was doing this, I was also still looking at the schools and the governments back in Newfoundland because I knew I wanted to go back there for my studies. And then I saw that, and I missed it, unfortunately, but I saw that they were switching the provincial student portion of the loans to grants.

So they wouldn't be loans anymore. They'd just be grants. You don't have to pay it back. Oh, wow. That's awesome. It's not that anymore. I really wish it was. Yeah.

Nuts. They went back to their interest-free loans, but they're still there. So I saw that happening. I was like, my loan is almost gone. I'm just going to see if I can reapply and move back. And while I was working for that company, I also realized that I was buying stock through my compensation. I had a defined contribution plan. I had an RRSP matching.

So I had a good nest egg built up. Definitely. So I wasn't as worried as I was when I first started about having a really deep in the hole debt pit when I left. Yeah. So when I went back over, I also found out about the tuition matching. So it was really just, I know all I do is I pay my tuition in a pocket. I'm reimbursed.

That reimbursement goes in the RRSP, so I actually don't pay taxes, hopefully. Ooh, I like that. Hopefully. Hopefully, yeah. Well, it sounds like even though you have more school ahead of you, you've definitely kind of set yourself up successfully because you're not going to be dealing with a boatload of debt when you graduate, which if you weren't doing this through your company and everything, it probably would have

cost you quite a bit. It would have. But the biggest thing was when I left school the first time, I had to deal with my parents and my family. I keep saying, you shouldn't be doing this. You really shouldn't be doing this. You should stay in school and just suffer through it. And that kind of lit a fire into me like, no, I'm going to do what I want to do. You don't. Yeah. I will do this how I want to do it. And then when I was going back, I was, I preemptively expect them to say, you're going to go into

debt because of this. So I forced myself to find the way I wouldn't. Yeah. Oh, I like that. I like the prove them wrong, you know, mentality. That's definitely something that's gotten me through a lot of tough decisions. I tell my fiance, I tell my family a lot now, if you want me to do something, tell me not to do it or tell me that I can't. Because if I'm interested enough in it, I'm going to just do this to spite you.

Yeah, absolutely. Absolutely. That's hilarious. Yeah. Well, that's awesome. Is there anything, because it does seem like you're very in tune with trying to figure out, yeah, how can I do this? What's a financially savvy way to do this? Because honestly, most people that have gone through what you've gone through or going to university, they probably wouldn't look into any of this. Was it just that people were like, oh, you can't do this. You're going to get into debt and you wanted to prove them wrong. Or what kind of sparked you to look more into like, how can I save money? How can I not get into debt? Well, when I was younger, my mom was really, was the financial guru of the household. And she would always try to instill in my brother and I,

that if you're going to do something, at least make sure it's either worth your money and worth your time. It didn't, it kind of backfired and told me that later on when I told her I didn't want to go back to school. But yeah. So what I would really just tell people when they're going into university is to first make sure that's what you want to do. And if you're only doing it because that's what you said you want to do

in the past three years, don't do it. There's no point. You're going to waste thousands of dollars and there's no need of doing it. Absolutely. If I could tell people to go for one year and just do a gap year, because you're leaving high school, you shouldn't have any debt. You shouldn't have a credit card, at least I hope you don't.

And you've probably been working for a couple of summers before that. So if you've been working and you already have some money saved up for at least your first year, any extra money you make you can just use that to either live on your own for a little while see what you want find like go on a trip travel the world do whatever you want to do just don't go to school that's what you think you should be doing yeah it's just it's just going to waste your money um the next thing is especially if you're going to university and you know you're going to be working part-time, try to find the jobs that will pay you more than just minimum wage. Okay.

So look for the jobs that are going to pay you commission or look for the jobs that have bonuses and stuff like that built in. And when you're going to the interview, you can ask the hiring manager this. And they can tell you that this job is minimum wage plus commission or it's going to give you a stock program after two years, or you're going to get an RRSP matching and then go for those jobs. Here's one question because it's like I did not go for those jobs. I definitely went for the minimum wage jobs because I didn't know any better. What are some good ways to look for these kind of jobs with the extras? First one to look for is look for the bigger companies yeah and the ones that aren't in just flat retail right so electronic stores are good ones to go for with the exception

of the of best buy i think doesn't do so much anymore but other right do um companies that will advertise when you're going to shop at that we don't that we're not on commission they'll probably have something else around there that's going to give you bonuses down the line. Because if you walked into a store and you're going to buy something and the rep is consistently asking you, do you want to buy a warranty? Do you want to get this? Do you want to get this? That usually tells you they're on commission or something kind of bonus.

Yeah. Oh, that's interesting. Shoe stores, weirdly enough, the higher end shoe stores will actually pay you commission to move their product. That's true. Same thing with furniture stores. Furniture stores.

I would have never thought of that. Yeah. They're actually really big into that. Yeah. Oh, that's really interesting. Okay. So you just kind of have to,

you know, kind of think outside the box. It sounds like I'm not saying that you need to like immediately go find the store's going to pay you the most money right away, but it would be nice. Yeah, especially if you're kind of doing maybe the same work or the same hours as something that will pay you less. Why not do some extra research to find a job that will pay you more for the same work, essentially. Yeah. Like, whenever I tell someone who's looking for a job, my best response is to say, try to find the one that will pay commission first. Because at least you always have a bit of extra plus your wage. And if you can't find that, find one that gives you tips or tips that kind of expect it.

So serving or something like that. And if you really can't find anything else like that, find a job that at least has a couple of fringe benefits that will help you. So if you're going to work a minimum wage job, work somewhere that will give you a discount at a place that you're going to be buying a lot of stuff from anyway. Yeah. Or if you're going to do it, try to find one on campus so at the very least you're not running from campus

to your job and then back. Yeah, and I find typically campus jobs pay you way better than anything you can find at like your local mall or whatever. There was one semester that I had, I got a, you know, it was just a seasonal job, just a couple months at my school's bookstore. And I got paid, like, double what I was usually getting paid at my old kind of retail job. Like what? Had I known I would have tried to apply to this bookstore three years ago. Yeah. And actually, if know that MUN does this, and I think a couple other schools around this area do. You can find jobs that aren't student jobs, but student assistant jobs, which go longer than just a semester or a season.

So our library will hire students on just to scan books, just scan theses into our system, and we'll pay you $14 an hour to do it. Just go down to the basement and watch Netflix and scan books. Yeah, that sounds pretty decent. Well, those are some great tips, actually, things that I've never thought about before, and I'm sure lots of other people haven't heard before. It's important not just to find a job to earn some money, but find maybe the best job you can, right? Yeah. If you can find a job to earn some money, but find maybe the best job you can, right? Yeah. If you can find a job that even pays you an extra $100 every paycheck, that's $100 you didn't have. And that can go really far to keeping that debt down.

Or that could be like your little extra money where you can start investing soon. Investing, emergency fund, an RRSP if you just want to get started, anything at all, it's just extra money that you didn't have before. Absolutely. Well, thanks for sharing your expertise on this. I'm excited for you and your journey. When is your graduation date from your bachelor's? I like to tell myself it's in two years, but I've been saying that to myself for the past year and a half, so I'm not sure. Okay. Well, you take your time.

Yeah. I feel like I'm going to go from bachelor right into the SciDoc program, so I have no, no, not school ahead of me. Yeah. Yeah. And how long does the doc program take? They told me it was anywhere from two to six years based on how quickly you can get your research done.

Okay. So I guess that kind of just tells you if you're going to stay in a library for two years straight, it'll be fine. But if you're going to actually live, you'll take your book sites. Okay. Well,

at least, you know, there's light at the end of the tunnel because it'll mean that you'll be able to, you know, do your own thing after and be your own business person, which is exciting. That's awesome.

Well, thank you so much, Colton, for emailing me. I'm glad you heard my call out for listener series guests. And it was a pleasure chatting with you. I'm excited. Please let me know. Give me an update. I don't care if it's two years from now.

Once you do finish your bachelor's, I want to hear an update. Sure, I'll send you one. It'll be like the first person I message when I get the little diploma on the stage. Fabulous. I want a picture, a selfie, everything. And that was episode 97 with Colton, part of my listener series. Thank you so much, Colton, for reaching out when I did my call out for listener series guests and sending me a wonderful email and then joining me on the show. If you are listening right now and you want to share your story, it can be big, small, tall, short,

whatever. You have a story that you want to share to the world about your personal finance journey, please send me an email, jessica at jessicamorehouse.com. And we will get you on the show because I think these episodes are very important. They give everyone just a really great idea on what other people are doing with their money. How are they managing? I think it's awesome. So if you want to be on my show, shoot me an email and I'll get right back to you. And of course, check out the show notes. I'm going to include some important things that we talked about in this episode at jessicamorehouse.com slash 97. And I will see you back here next Wednesday. All righty. All right.

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