“They” say money doesn’t fall from trees. However comma, thank the Lord, money has been falling from the Department of State’s training budget tree and right into my school account. One of the perks of working for Uncle Sam is his gracious willingness to help his employees better themselves through education. Of course, the catch is this self-improvement has to be directly related to the employee’s job. Luckily for me, public communication relates to my job as a writer/editor. I’d like to think it also has something to do with my somewhat exceptional persuasion skills, both oral and written—a significant part of the stack of paperwork I have to fill out for each course involves justifying how the class relates to my job and convincing the powers that be that there’s a strong element of WIFM (what’s in it for me) for the organization.
But like “they” also say, all good things must come to an end. The department’s fiscal year 2009 budget hasn’t been approved yet, so we can’t spend more than we did last year this time. We’re on a “continuing resolution” until March or April. That’s going to be next to impossible considering we just hired a slew of new employees. Unless training money can only be spent on training, I will have to find another tree to shake to pay for grad school. Welcome to reality, right? Oh, and did I mention the new policy that came out last week places a $3,000 per fiscal year cap on tuition assistance? Needless to say, I'm already maxed out for the year! Regardless of what happens, I’m extremely grateful for the help I’ve gotten so far, and any debts I rack up from now on will be worth it.
-Misha-
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