wilmott.com

Hey All,I work at a Wall St. IB in NYC (MS to be exact) and was looking to being my study in quant. finance/FE starting this fall. Had a chat w/ the head of my dept. about it and he dropped a bomb on me: due to declining profit margin the last 3 years on the Street all tuition reimbursement requests are now on-hold, w/ certain "exceptional" exceptions. I looked on the co. internal HR website and still it lists tuition reimbursement a fringe benefit for full-time employees. To me it seems that the "unofficial" official policy is now "Officially we have tuition help for employees but you aren't gonna get it unless you have some major connections". I also have a friend at CSFB and he said the tuition reimbursement is now only for employees making less than $80,000 a year (which to me means most of the people working in a major IB in NYC).I wonder if this trend is very much the norm on the street nowadays? I mean has anyone out there who works in a major IB (GS/JPM/LB/SB/UBS/ML, etc.) been declined tuition reimb.? Just curious (and mightily disappointed).cougar91

I also work for one of the big firms (but am now on international assignment which seems to never end!) and we have a large number of internal training classes. I enquired about one of the more advanced classes and was told that there is no way that I could take one since they are running at about $5000 a pop including travelling expenses, hotel and training center tuition. So... no external classes and the internal ones are too expensive.So much for working for one of the big boys where training is supposed to be a priority!

I mean, I don't know anything about this society, being a cat and all, but why should someone else pay for your education? And why would you be disappointed if they didn't?Mightily confused...

Imean, I don't know anything about this society, being a cat and all, but why should someone else pay for your education? And why would you be disappointed if they didn't?It is listed as a benefit, and thus part of your pay. It's not a society thing at all. A course adds to the NPV of a worker, so he gets some benefit, however unlike cash the education benefits the employer.

I mean, I don't know anything about this society, being a cat and all, but why should someone else pay for your education? And why would you be disappointed if they didn't?Because it is listed on the HR website as a fringe benefit for full-time employees and some selected few are getting it, while the vast majority aren't. I understand w/ company wanting to save money during this tough time and all but it is a disappointment nevertheless, especially I asked about it when I was hired and it was assured as a benefit.

Completely agree! One of the reasons I decided to go to work for the firm I did was because of the emphasis on training. If I'm not going to get the training, I might as well work for a smaller shop where I have more responsibility and less bureaucracy!