{"id":59714,"date":"2021-05-11T10:52:14","date_gmt":"2021-05-11T15:52:14","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/tigermedianet.com\/?p=59714"},"modified":"2021-05-11T10:52:15","modified_gmt":"2021-05-11T15:52:15","slug":"employee-earns-degree-with-aid-of-tuition-assistance-program","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/tigermedianet.com\/?p=59714","title":{"rendered":"Employee earns degree with aid of tuition assistance program"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p><strong>By UNIVERSITY RELATIONS<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Fort Hays State University is a university of resilience, strength, and community. As part of this community, one particular benefit available to faculty and staff is greatly impacting people\u2019s lives. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>FHSU\noffers tuition assistance to its full-time employees and their dependents after\none year of employment at the university. Israel Smitherman has taken advantage\nof that opportunity to complete his bachelor\u2019s degree while working full-time\nas a custodian in the Residential Life Department.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Smitherman\nwas driven to begin a degree program and discovered the tuition assistance\nprogram while working at Mondo Subs in the Memorial Union. His manager, at the\ntime, told Smitherman about a full-time position opening in the custodial\ndepartment. He also told him about the tuition assistance program, which caught\nSmitherman\u2019s attention.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cI\nhad been wanting to go to school, so I applied for \u2013 and ultimately got \u2013 the\ncustodial position,\u201d he said. \u201cThen after a year working in custodial, I\nstarted taking classes.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Smitherman\nbegan working as a custodian in McMindes Hall in 2015 and later transferred to\nVictor E. Village after its completion in 2017.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Smitherman\nbegan his degree-seeking journey by taking one or two classes a semester,\neventually transitioning to full-time enrollment in the psychology program.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cMy\ndaughter was born in 2014, and that made me more serious about wanting to get\nan education and have more pathways in life,\u201d he said. \u201cThat, paired with the\ntuition assistance program and being able to complete a psychology degree\ncompletely online, were main motivators.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Smitherman\nwill graduate in May with a bachelor\u2019s degree in psychology and is awaiting\nacceptance to a graduate program in Texas. Personal resilience and a positive\nwork environment have enabled Smitherman to reach his goals.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cMy\nteam has been absolutely encouraging through the whole process,\u201d he said. \u201cIf\nthere are any campus-related events or classes that I need to participate in, I\ncan be there. If I needed to do proctored testing or fill out paperwork, it was\neasy to do because I was already on campus. The custodial team is very\nencouraging and flexible.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Attending\nclasses virtually while being employed full-time, along with personal\nobligations, can be challenging for any student. But Smitherman feels his\nposition on the Residential Life team has allowed him to maintain a healthy\nbalance.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The\nnature of the job appeals to Smitherman. \u201cWe are split into different sections\nso that allows for working independently. It is flexible, allowing you to find\nan area that you are comfortable in. And the managers are all very\naccommodating and helpful,\u201d he said. \u201cI really enjoy the job. You can listen to\npodcasts, audiobooks, or course material while you clean, and it is relaxing.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The\ntuition assistance program is not only economically beneficial but also simple\nto use as an employee, and Smitherman feels the program has made a notable\nimpact on his life.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Smitherman\nmight be unique in his path to completing his degree, starting employment at\nFHSU then beginning his program, but he is not alone in pursuing educational\ngoals. FHSU is committed to aiding and encouraging all staff, faculty, and\nstudents in their educational journeys. The tuition assistance program and\nflexibility for employees display this commitment to the Tiger family.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>By UNIVERSITY RELATIONS Fort Hays State University is a university of resilience, strength, and community. As part of this community, one particular benefit available to&hellip; <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":59715,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[11722],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-59714","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-press-releases"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/tigermedianet.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/05\/Grad20Spotlight20Smitherman20Israel.jpg?fit=1050%2C1500&ssl=1","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[],"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/tigermedianet.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/59714","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/tigermedianet.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/tigermedianet.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tigermedianet.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tigermedianet.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=59714"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/tigermedianet.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/59714\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":59716,"href":"https:\/\/tigermedianet.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/59714\/revisions\/59716"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tigermedianet.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/59715"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/tigermedianet.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=59714"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tigermedianet.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=59714"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tigermedianet.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=59714"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}