Money matters
I forgot something in my previous email. Thought about it while writing, forgot it again before hitting send. That’s the way it goes, right? Thanks, ADHD brain! ✨
It turns out Gallaudet University has a lifetime maximum of $68,000 for tuition reimbursement for employees. Over the course of my MA and PhD, I maxed out this amount. Fortunately, I hit the cap very close to my last payment, because Leicester charges according to a full-time schedule, even if you’re a part time student. My final payment was on April 1, I paid it, and submitted the paperwork to Gallaudet for reimbursement. Normal protocol is to then submit your grades at the end of the semester, because if you didn’t perform well enough, you don’t get paid back. In my case, I’ve been handing in progress letters from my PhD supervisor, because I don’t have “grades” as such.
Unfortunately, when I submitted my grades this time, I learned that I hit the maximum on my prior payment - the winter semester one. I had only $277 remaining for the April reimbursement, and that was fully taxable.
So I lost about $5,500 on my final payment. 💸
I’ve been losing a bit every year of my PhD due to taxes, but this was a fairly substantial hit when I wasn’t expecting it. My finances are stable enough that it doesn’t affect me too much, but I might have made some other financial arrangements if I knew that was going to happen. The item on my to-do list for “put tuition reimbursement back into savings account” just isn’t going to get checked off this time.
It’s a lot of money, actually. I can manage - but it’s a lot.
I am taking another look at my finances, though, to see where I might end up going from here. You can’t take a leave of absence (with no pay) if you can’t afford your expenses, right?
Step 1: Get my expenses better notated
Step 2: ????
Step 3: Dissertation defense!
Yeah, step 3 is supposed to be profit, but who are we kidding - I’m in the non-profit arts sector. 😆