What to use tuition reimbursement for?

[sanantone]

What about looking for an MPA, MPP, or MBA?

I don't think I'll have much use for those. Plus, I don't have the energy to complete another graduate program with a lot of writing. I thought about getting a master's in counseling or marriage and family therapy, but I would have to do a 60 credit hour program plus 3,000 hours of interning for licensure. I could become a psychiatric nurse practitioner is less time and make more. Five thousand dollars per year in tuition reimbursement isn't much, but all three of those licenses qualify for Texas' new tuition reimbursement program for mental health professionals (this is for everyone, not just state employees). I would get $40,000 to $60,000 in reimbursement on top of my tuition reimbursement as a state employee. 

However, I think I would prefer being a family nurse practitioner rather than a psychiatric nurse practitioner, which would mean I would only get $5,000 per year as a state employee and wouldn't qualify for the mental health professional tuition reimbursement program.

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I assume that just because they pay for your nursing degree doesn't mean you then have to take a job at a state hospital? That would open up a lot of choices. Pick the path that will bring YOU the most joy. This doesn't seem to be a time to compromise.

This is where the problem lies. For every semester or term I receive tuition reimbursement, I will have to work that same amount of time after classes end. The same applies to educational leave. If they give me a few hours off everyday to attend classes for a year, I will owe them another year of employment. Otherwise, I would have to pay back the tuition and salary I didn't earn on a prorated basis. So, if I get educational leave and tuition reimbursement to go through a 2-year nursing program, I am stuck with the state for another two years. I still have to clarify whether I would have to stay with my same agency or if I could take a position with another state agency. Regardless, most of the nursing jobs with the state are in the Health and Human Services Department at the state hospitals and state supported living centers. I've seen what they have to deal with.

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I just checked. I would need to stay with my agency to meet the work obligation. My specific agency has zero nursing jobs, and the only law enforcement jobs they have require a couple of years of experience as a criminal investigator. My agency has no entry-level law enforcement jobs. This sucks. A job with any state agency should count.