Company Sponsorship problem

The_Hustler

Hi. I'm going to be working for a very large company but they said if I did a Masters they would sponsor me to do it. I decided to do this and they offered sponsorship of up to €6000 for my masters fees. My Masters costs €7000.

€1000 is still a lot of money to me so I applied for a grant which covers approximately €5500 of my masters fees. I thought this would be great for both me and the company. I rang the company about this and asked them if they now just cover the difference and they said yes, they will pay €500! :eek:

The grant is in place to reduce my fees based on my family income and this company is trying to take it all for themselves. I have it in writing that they said they would sponsor me to a maximum of €6000 and my fellow classmates without grants are getting €6000 from them. Surely they should pay the €1500 difference and not just €500.

I can't see how they're interpreting it. It's like they're saying once €6000 of my fees have been paid, no matter who pays it, their sponsorship cuts off. They seem to be counting the grant as part of their sponsorship.

I really don't find this acceptable and have relayed this to them (more politely) but I don't want to fall out with the company before even starting there. They're to ring me back about this but if they refuse is there anything I can do about this?

AARRRGH

Nearly every company only pays for college fees after you've been there for a year, so you really can't complain.

You're still getting a great deal no matter who is footing the bill...

Btw I am about to start a masters myself - how did you get a grant for it??

mikemac

I had a long reply typed you but meh, quit your moaning.

You're in a great situation and many reading this thread would envy your situation.

Now if the company would pay only 50% of your masters like many companys do, then you might have a valid complaint.
I'm guessing you're in Accountancy so €1,000 might seem a lot now but it's nothing once you are qualified

uberwolf

I say don't accept the grant and stiff the company for the €6k.

The_Hustler

dublindude wrote:

Nearly every company only pays for college fees after you've been there for a year, so you really can't complain.

You're still getting a great deal no matter who is footing the bill...

Btw I am about to start a masters myself - how did you get a grant for it??

You have to apply to you local council and they award it based on the income of your parents usually. But that's my point, the grant is for underprivileged households and this company that makes millions is taking it all for themselves.

This company and most in its field sponsor 100s to do the masters every year before entering the companies as it benefits them also.

micmclo wrote:

Now if the company would pay only 50% of your masters like many companys do, then you might have a valid complaint.

If they agreed to pay 50% of my masters, I'd have less of a valid complaint. They agreed to pay my fees to a maximum of €6000, and I am looking for €1500.

I know I'm in an envious position but I don't see how the company's behaviour is acceptable here. Every other student (without a grant) that took up this offer is getting €6000 from them.

uberwolf wrote:

I say don't accept the grant and stiff the company for the €6k.

I would but if say 3 years down the line I decide I don't like it there, I'd have to pay them everything back. And if they're like this before I even start I'm worried I won't like it there. Plus I'd lose a few hundred in council maintenance.

jimmycrackcorm

Tell the company that the grant offer has been withdrawn due to your circumstances and then get both.

The_Hustler

jimmycrackcorm wrote:

Tell the company that the grant offer has been withdrawn due to your circumstances and then get both.

I wish! The whole payment thing goes through the college so that's not possible unfortunately.

AARRRGH

Ah balls. My folks are unemployed so I totally could have gotten a grant!

****e...

The_Hustler

Yeah, many people are entitled to it and just don't know.

I've always been entitled to it, and this has nothing to do with the company. People telling me I should be happy with what I've got, I'm giving out about the company's offer, not my entire situation. My complaint is that now they're only offering €500 to while giving €6000 to everyone else, and I can't see a logical reason.

Part of the reason I took up this job offer was because they offered to pay my fees. If they didn't offer this, they would lose many applicants (including myself) as their competitors offer very similar packages, so it's not like this is an exceptional company. It's been the norm for a number of years in the larger companies in my field.

To be honest I don't even think it is the company being ignorant to their own offer, I think the person in charge of paying the colleges is just interpreting the offer wrongly, but I can't even see how he would come to the conclusion that he came to.

AARRRGH

The_Hustler wrote:

To be honest I don't even think it is the company being ignorant to their own offer, I think the person in charge of paying the colleges is just interpreting the offer wrongly, but I can't even see how he would come to the conclusion that he came to.

Yep, that's what I think it is too

Accounts people are notoriously lazy so I would put it down to incompetence more than anything else.

pow wow

The_Hustler wrote:

I know I'm in an envious position but I don't see how the company's behaviour is acceptable here. Every other student (without a grant) that took up this offer is getting €6000 from them.

Well maybe they want you to be in the same position but no better than other people they are sponsoring. i.e. they'll top you up to everyone elses' level but after that you're on your own.

Just because due to family circumstances you are entitled to assistance with fees, why should that put you in a better position than everyone else? I can see where you're coming from when you get down to the figures of it, but if you really think about it you don't actually have a whole lot to be complaining about. You're essentially getting the same as all the other entrants, it's just being funded by different means.

The company's objective is to assist everyone to a certain point, not hand out 6k to each employee.

leeroybrown

TBH, I'm slightly annoyed that your employer (via you) is using a loophole in the grant system to avoid paying for the education that they normally have to.

Jo King

I think the company is right. They agreed with you that you would have to contribute 1K from your own resources for the course. That is what is happening. If they gave you the 6K you would be making a profit so you cannot literally interpret the offer as being one of 6k. There is no mention of 1500 anywhere so they cannot be obliged to pay it. If they have a number of employees they could be open to complaints that some are being put in a better position than others. Some employees would be paying 1k from their salaries to attend the course and some would not. This would be a breach of the principle of equal pay for equal work. If you are not happy then walk!

leeroybrown

In fairness to the OP, they never said they wanted all of the €6000, just the portion of it required to pay the remaining fees. If I were in the OP's position my first worry would be relating to any contractual lock-ins that can tend to go with sponsored further education. If there are conditions attached to getting the sponsorship then the company is having a laugh if they think they will get away with a €500 contribution.

Also, as I already pointed out I'm annoyed that the OP's employer can take advantage of grant aid that should be going to someone who actually needs it using this loophole. Maybe they should turn down the grant and get the company to sponsor the full amount like they should have to.

The_Hustler

Jo King wrote:

I think the company is right. They agreed with you that you would have to contribute 1K from your own resources for the course. That is what is happening. If they gave you the 6K you would be making a profit so you cannot literally interpret the offer as being one of 6k. There is no mention of 1500 anywhere so they cannot be obliged to pay it. If they have a number of employees they could be open to complaints that some are being put in a better position than others. Some employees would be paying 1k from their salaries to attend the course and some would not. This would be a breach of the principle of equal pay for equal work. If you are not happy then walk!

They never agreed that I'd have to contribute 1k. The price of the masters had not been decided yet as this was months ago, and there was a choice of masters in different universities with different prices. The price of the masters went up this year actually (after I had accepted it). There was never an agreement of what I'd have to contribute, it was that they had to pay the fees to a maximum of 6k.

(In fact, their sponshorship has always covered the entire course before it went up, so this may be the first time they are faced with this issue.)

I'm not looking for 6k, I'm looking for them to pay the fees which are €1500. Why would €1500 be mentioned, this is just the amount of my fees which are due to be paid. They said they'd pay all the fees up to 6k, and €1500 isn't above this maximum obviously, so I'm just looking for them to do as they said and pay the fees.

None of us are employed by the company yet. They haven't paid us anything. We are now tied into a contract for a number of years now. So to be honest they are tying me in by just contributing €500, a lot less than others.
Equal pay for equal work doesn't apply here, and if it did I would presume you'd be counting the sponsorship as pay and I'm certainly not getting an equal amount from them.

And I'm certainly not looking for an equal amount. I thought I'd made it clear I'm not looking for anything above my fees.

The_Hustler

Got a call today basically saying the person I spoke to was completely wrong, I am getting the rest of the fees paid. Despite the fact that I was supposed to be speaking to the person in charge, I was put on to someone just filling in while the main person was away. I wasn't told that at the time.

Anybody I talked to also thought that their original claim was ridiculous, some even thought I should be given the €6,000. I knew that wasn't going to happen but it was different to hear arguments on behalf of the original claim here. I do completely disagree with the points but thanks for the alternate views.

damnyanks

Well since its sorted thats great

additionally why would they pay your full fee's when you would quable paying 1k out of 7k?

The_Hustler

Yeah, I know they wouldn't but some people thought since everybody's getting 6k so should I seeing as the grant has nothing whatsoever with the company.

I know they'd never do that, and I never expected that. But I also didn't expect them to quable over the 1k.

I'm just glad it's sorted.

LadyGodiva

Hi hustler

Good that its sorted for you but I am intrigued re the local authority funded the course. Can u give me more details, the name of the grant? Sounds too good to be true!
Thanks

The_Hustler

It may depend on which local authority. If you're in Dublin this is the link
http://www.dublincity.ie/living_in_the_city/your_home/education/

The first word document is the one with all the info. I can see they state they cover €6,110 of the fees.

10.2 Subject to the maximum lecture fee approved by the Minister for Education and Science, no lecture fee grant shall exceed the E.U. rate of fee payable in respect of any approved course.

The maximum fee limit shall apply as follows:
(i) All Undergraduate courses not approved under the terms of the Free Fees Initiative and
(ii) all Post-graduate courses: €6,110.


Mine was different for personal reasons but it usually is €6,110 I think.

LadyGodiva

thanks, after a quick peek, is it only full time under or post grad courses? can u not do a part time postgrad?
thx again

The_Hustler

I really don't know anything about part time, I'm doing full time. Sorry.

I actually have a mate who was in a very similar situation this year. He's doing a masters in DCU for €7560 (was under €7000 last yeat). His company covers €7000. He got the €6110 grant and the company said they'd cover the difference to bring it to €7000. He emailed them last week about the rest and they got back to him today. They didn't know DCU had brought the fees up till last week. They decided to not only cover the full difference for grantholders, but they're covering everyone's entire fees!

It must be an equality thing.

LadyGodiva

thanks for that, I was confused as I presumed that if the employer was involved and you were working, the course would have to be part time.

How does the company gain benefit, are you locked into an agreement regarding a contract for a few years? Are you an employee whilst doing the masters? thx

leeroybrown

The_Hustler wrote:

They didn't know DCU had brought the fees up till last week.

Off topic: Postgraduate fee increases are to be expected. The colleges see them as an easy source of money as a lot of it is covered by grants, fellowships, etc and postgrads tend to be underrepresented group (locally and nationally) who in my experience will whine but ultimately do nothing constructive about it.

Pythia

LadyGodiva wrote:

thanks for that, I was confused as I presumed that if the employer was involved and you were working, the course would have to be part time.

How does the company gain benefit, are you locked into an agreement regarding a contract for a few years? Are you an employee whilst doing the masters? thx

I presume it's an MAcc which gives you exemptions from the accountancy exams. It means you only have one set of exams to do before qualifying, rather than two or three which a lot of their intake would have to do.
Obviously you come in with more knowledge, ability, etc.

Newaglish

A friend of mine is actually doing a Masters in Dublin and the grant pays for his fees, plus maintenance of about €4,000 for the year (for rent etc.). It's well worth checking out, for undergrad and post-grad courses.

sunnyjim

It's obvious the The_Hustler is trying to hustle some money out of the local government!! IT'S ALL IN HIS NAME!!

Only messin', I know the Hustler personally. Glad to see it's sorted mate!