I am currently a full time worker going back to college. What laws protect me from my employer’s uncooperativi

If you want to keep your job, you generally have to work around their schedule. The fact that they’re willing to be flexible with you at all is really something for which they deserve praise. My wife, for example, completed her master’s degree while working full-time, in a field that would and has benefited her employer tremendously. They provided her with absolutely **no** cooperation by way of flexible scheduling, etc.

Finally, many states (22) in the US are called “right to work” states, which basically means that you can be fired from work for literally **any** reason that isn’t a violation of Federal law (i.e., race or sex discrimination). Pennsylvania is not one of them, so you *may* have some rights, partifcularly if you’re a member of a union. Check with your union officials or an employment lawyer for further information.

Otherwise, thank your employer for any cooperation that they feel they’re able to provide. Sorry for the bad news.

Talk to your state labor board just be sure there is no remedy. Most colleges also have a job or career center. Consult with them too for a new position willing to work with your schedule. Yes, there are lots of employers who will.

Do not make my mistake. I worked FT as retail manager at 18 when I started college. I only attended 2 classes every summer. I missed many opportunities because I still haven’t finished my degree before 30 because of work, family and kids.

The only advice that I can give you is what I myself had to face when I decided to go back to school at almost 30 for my undergraduate degree. Where do you think your time is best spent? Are those people at your job going to support you in your endeavors (and be honest). I hate to say it, but there is nothing to prevent your employer from treating you badly or firing you outright if you decide to pursue an education at their expense.

When I came to the understanding that I would not be able to continue doing the part time thing anymore at my job, I made a decision. I could continue to stay there in the same position, or I could go back and finish the degree that I have worked so hard for- and would pay dividends for me later if I lost my job for some reason. I am not going to lie; I love what I do and my company has treated me well. But let’s be honest. If you don’t leave now, will it be any easier a year from now, five years from now, or more?

The bottom line is that all this whining that you describe them doing is a nice way of them threatening you to stay or “or else”. No matter how they dress it up, their tactics seem to be working. They don’t want to take a chance on losing a productive worker- period. They don’t care about your education as much as you do.

I think that you would benefit from doing what I had to wind up doing in order to free myself from that situation. I had to ask myself if I am ready to finish school. I don’t mean academically, which I am sure you are, but personally.

It’s no secret; the people who do best in college usually have the best support system. Whether that means having someone else support them or provide for their basic needs or they find a way to do it on their own, they have to cut back on the lifestyle and find a way to get it done- sometimes without the job.

The people at my job did the same bellyaching about my college plans when I wanted to go back. For about 6 months, I had a lot of sleepless nights trying to figure out what I needed to do about things. I even have a mortgage on my condo to pay, so moving is hairy to say the least. I can’t tell you what answers are right for you, but I share with you what I did.

When I was within about 6 months of graduation with my Associates, I started planning my “escape”.Though I had decided to go back to school about a year earlier, I needed a year to put a plan together. I applied to several of my hopeful colleges and really paid attention to their curriculums, days and times that class were being offered, and various other logistics BEFORE I said anything to anyone at work. When I determined that I wouldn’t be able to finish my degree and stay even in the state, I figured something else out, and have found a suitable hustle for my needs going forward. I realized the following things:

1) I determined a priority of needs in my life. This means that I decide under all circumstances, what matters most to me. In my case at this point, school was at the top of my list. So I make my schedule around school first and work and whatever else second at all times. This was important, because there are always situations that will throw your priorities out of whack.

2) I have a “trained skill” in a service industry. This has been my moneymaker for all these years, and I picked it because it gives me a trade to ply with as much flexibility as I need. So even if I leave my job, I can find something in the same line of work. If I didn’t have this skill, rule one would still apply, and I would just grab whatever little minimum wage job would fit around my schedule and put a little cash in my hand. And I do mean cash if you understand- I operate with the idea that cash jobs aren’t glamoruous, but they get the job done for money and taxes are not necessarily an issue. Before I got my skill, I parked cars at a Valet, I hostessed, you get the idea. I liked those jobs because they were often only 4-5 hours a night and they would put cash in my hands, often at the end of each night. So my gas, bills, etc, were taken care of. But I found a job and picked a start date, shift and a situation that I could work with in school.

3) I made an affordable living situation. First of all, I tried to get rid of all of my credit cards. I don’t just mean pay off- I mean close. I paid them off and then closed them, one by one. I ate canned tuna seriously for the last about 9 months, picked up a second job working third shift at a gas station, and basically did what I had to do to get out of debt and put some money aside for things like books, car repairs, and the like. Because I had to leave the state, I got aggressive about renting my place out, and I enlisted the help of a realtor, who I paid a small one time fee for helping me become a landlord.

So my mortgage is taken care of, and my gas station job helped me to put money aside should anything happen at my home while I was away.

4)In the course of realizing that I needed to go back to school, I realized that part of the reason that I was so apprehensive about the whole thing is that I was in too much debt. So, while I didn’t pay off everything, I got rid of everything I could. I stopped taking insurance from my job, and enrolled in an HSA with a high deductible. I saved the money for the deductible in one of the savings accounts that accompanies the medical care plan. I am not a teenager anymore, and I want good medical care. College plans are sometimes hit or miss, and it worries me that I won’t have health insurance when I need it. This may be a luxury for you to go this route, but dealing with this took a load off of my mind, and I found that I can work the numbers out if I am not paying credit card bills off. I made my company pay me the money that I was saving from not paying into my health (which was a little harder to do than I thought it would be) and put it in the bank. It wasn’t much, but it helped.

As far as debt plans go, I highly reccommend Dave Ramsey’s materials. You can get any of his books at any main bookstore chain.

5) This is where it got scary. Once I graduated, I came into work and I took my two weeks vacation-and worked through it. This means that I made them pay me out for the time, and I worked it. They didn’t like this and wouldn’t pay me overtime, but I did it anyway. After all, this directly benefitted my first goal-getting a degree.

6) Towards the end of my time, I inquired about my 401K and benefits so that I knew how my plan worked. I had built one up over the years and though it is my bedrock, it was also enough for me to live on for about two years when I left if I budgeted wisely and had a part time cash job. I cashed it out on the day I quit.

7) I started looking for the same kinds of above listed opportunities in the new place that I would be living-cash jobs that were only a few times a week for a few hours a day. I looked at my anticipated savings and current savings and made a budget. I got on Craigslist and found a roommate that was never home and whose rent requirements fit mine. I looked into getting my own place, but my money went further with a roommate, so I took my time and found a place with a roommate that, surprise of all surprises, was in the same boat as I was. She wanted to go back to school, but needed a roomate, was about my age and wasn’t up for the BS. The rent is something like a 1/3 of the price of on campus or near campus housing. And I live in a house that I share with only one other person. I have my own room, we share a bathroom and a kitchen, but I hardly ever see her.

8) I quietly told my supervisor that I would be quitting at the end of my “vacation” and gave him a letter that would terminate my employment. We had spoken about this a year earlier, and he had complained that he wouldn’t be able to work around my hours when he went back. I said nothing else, but when I handed him that letter a year later, I made sure that I had my ducks in a row. He was mad,but I had done everything by the book- and had forwarded a copy of my resignation letter to HR just prior to this meeting. I spoke with them about my fears and asked them to help him find a replacement for me nicely, so they were on notice and he couldn’t backstab me. I did this before they had time to warn him, so I called them on the way into work, just before I walked in the door and gave him my two weeks notice. I also had my contacts and recommendations from several discreet persons, complete with home contact information so that if things still didn’t work out, I had a reference or two.

9)I didn’t cash out my 401K until after I had quit because then I wasn’t subject to my plans rules anymore. I took the tax hit because I quit at a point that my income was reduced enough on paper that I wouldn’t lose it in taxes no matter what happened. My reasoning is this on the whole 401K thing: though it’s true that I am spending my retirement money, the increase in salaries that I will be eligible will far outweigh any financial losses that I suffer as a result in my withdrawal. But I will restate an earlier platitude: I live on a strict budget.

10) I applied for school loans and got the ball rolling there about 3 months beforehand. So school is paid for,my rent ( cash job) and mortgage (renter), and my bills, which are now diminished because I closed my name out of all the utilities that I could in the condo, come out of my savings. I went back in January for my first semester and studied, exercised, and cooked all semester. I worked weekends and 3 nights a week this past semester, and picked up more hours this summer to bolster my savings and get book money. I am getting ready to go back in fall. I have an emergency fund for my car and one for me with about 5 months of bill money.

All of this is in a nutshell, the planning that I did to get myself back into college. I miss my job sometimes, but I am so glad in knowing that I didn’t wait to get any older before I did it. It is hard, and I had no help, but I am so glad that I did it-getting that degree will be so worth it.

Good luck to you.