Building Your Certification Budget

By Matt McGrath

Kevin and Ted work for a major auto manufacturer. Both were technical support specialists with an eye on getting certified as Microsoft Certified Systems Administrators (MCSA). Kevin was able to get his company to pay for everything associated with the certification program: training, exams, books and study materials. Ted was only able to get the company to pay for classes at the local community college. For all other expenses associated with the process, Ted had to pay out of pocket. Kevin obtained his MCSA certification in only six months. He has since been promoted to systems administrator with a nice pay raise to go along with it. A year since beginning his quest for certification, Ted has yet to pass one exam, and he is still stuck in his old tech-support job.

As the senior education consultant at one of the nation's largest IT training and certification centers, I run across situations like the one described above all the time. Amazingly, two individuals from the same company, going for the same IT certification, using the same company-sponsored education-assistance program, pursue two totally different training programs and achieve two very different results. One is able to get all certification expenses covered. The other is forced to settle for a sub-par education and is left with major out-of-pocket expenses such as exam costs and study materials. Why did the HR department cover all of Kevin's expenses but only some of Ted's? How was Kevin able to finish his program in only six months-all expenses paid-and Ted has barely finished his second class and has yet to pay for his certification exams? As always, the truth lies in the details.

Chances are you already recognize the value of IT certification: increased compensation, faster rate of career advancement, enhanced credibility as an IT professional, improved chances of finding a new career and improved productivity. Now comes the tricky part: how to pay for it.

Budgeting for IT certification involves determining the real cost of everything associated with getting certified, finding a way to pay for it and completing the program in a realistic time frame, before the technology you are getting certified in becomes outdated. In the post-dot-com-crash days of IT budget cuts and outsourcing, you are lucky if your company is willing to share the cost of your certification, let alone pay for the whole program. If you are fortunate enough to work for one of these progressive organizations, I will show you how to maximize the company's education plan to get the most bang for your buck and avoid having to pay the lion's share of your certification program out of pocket. If you are currently out of work, or if your company does not offer education assistance, which is becoming more common these days, there are other public- and private-aid programs out there to help you.

Step One: Determine the Real Cost of Your Certification

When choosing a training program, it is easy to overlook hidden costs. They pop up out of the blue, and sometimes these unexpected expenses can delay your certification process. You can count on incurring the following expenses:

Actual exam costs: Test fees will vary based on which certification you pursue, as well as the number of exams involved. Test fees can be as low as $20 per test (Cannon Certifications) to as much as $10,000 (NCR ATM Service Engineer). Both of these examples are extreme. Most IT certification exams will cost between $100 and $300. Some vendors only require passing one exam (Sun Certified Java Programmer at $165 for example). Other vendors require multiple exams. One of the more popular IT certifications, Microsoft's MCSE for example, requires eight exams at $125 a piece. Most IT certification exams are taken on a computer in an authorized testing center, usually either Thompson Prometric or Virtual University Enterprises (VUE). To determine the exact cost of the exam(s) associated with the certification you are considering, visit either of their Web sites at www.prometric.com or www.vue.com.

Don't make the mistake of assuming you will pass all of the exams on the first try. Even for IT veterans, it is common to fail a few exams along the way to getting certified. When budgeting for your IT certification, allot a few hundred bucks for exam retakes or choose a program that offers a test-pass guarantee.

Instructor-led training: This is the most expensive piece of the certification puzzle, usually done at either a certification training center or college. If your budget allows for it, I recommend the former because programs such as these are geared specifically for those pursuing certification, whereas college curriculum is usually geared for those pursuing degrees. Depending on the number of courses involved, costs at certification training centers can be between $1,000 and $25,000, and this cost usually includes everything you will need to get certified: books, exams, practice tests, study guides, etc. Colleges charge by the credit hour, usually between $65 and $400 per credit hour. All supplemental study materials and exam fees will have to be paid for a la carte.
Study materials and practice tests: Even the best-quality instructor-led certification program will require you to study outside of class and take plenty of practice exams. Thousands of study guides are available for those seeking certification, as well as hundreds of practice tests. Manual study guides are not too expensive-usually between $10 and $50. Practice tests are available both online and in disk format and tend to be pricier than study guides, averaging $30 to $75 per practice test. There are dozens of free practice tests online, but my experience with these is that they do not map well to the real certification exams. Ask a fellow IT professional who has obtained the same certification you are pursuing to recommend a good study guide or practice test.
Living expense money: This is one of the most overlooked expenses when budgeting for your IT certification. If you are a displaced, dislocated or an otherwise unemployed IT professional, you need money to pay the bills while getting your education. Even those who are employed might overlook the impact the certification process will have on their finances. For example, someone working 9 to 5 who enrolls in a six-month evening certification program might need to hire someone to take care of the kids at night. Consider these expenses when putting together your IT certification budget.

Step Two: How to Fund Your IT Certification

OK, you've done your research, and you have put together a rough estimate of what it will cost to fund your IT certification program. Now comes the difficult part: Getting someone else to pay the cost, or at least as much as possible. Many companies offer employees some type of education assistance, but amazingly, less than half of IT workers take advantage of it. How can this be? With the rate at which technology changes, it would seem like IT workers would take advantage of company-sponsored tuition assistance more so than any other department. Updating your skills is not just something you should do. It is something you must do if you plan a long career in IT or want to move up the corporate ladder.

It's not that IT workers do not want to get certified. In fact, most do and many are even willing to self-fund their certification, taking out large student loans to earn the credentials they desire. The problem is that in many companies, the HR department will not pay for certification programs. Why? I have found that there are predominantly two reasons. First, the company is afraid that if they pay for certification, the IT worker will leave the company. Second, the company-sponsored tuition guidelines are antiquated and require that eligible programs result in obtaining a degree or letter grade. Certification programs do not offer grade transcripts or degrees, so the request for assistance to attend these programs is denied. Unfortunately, when faced with one of the aforementioned obstacles, many certification prospects simply give up. Don't! Here are some tips on how to get the company on board with your plan.

Sell Them on the 'Big Picture'

Most IT professionals loathe the role of a salesman, but if you want to save thousands of dollars in potential out-of-pocket certification costs, you will have to make an exception. Meet with the HR person who makes the ultimate decision or at least the person who recommends whether your education plan is approved or not. Explain to them in layman's terms (HR people are not usually technical) why it is absolutely critical that they pay for the certification program. Show them how it will save the company money, how it will boost productivity and most importantly, what will happen if you don't get the certification. "The server might crash!" Create a sense of urgency

For example, Sarah was an Access DBA for a growing mid-size advertising firm. She wanted to get certified as an Oracle DBA. She approached the HR department and explained to them that the company database was running out of storage capacity and that the company needed to migrate to a database product that held more information. Instead of focusing on her own personal career goals, she showed the employer how being trained and certified as an Oracle DBA would prevent a future disaster, such as running out of storage capacity and the possibility of having to pay a SQL consultant $15,000 to recover the lost data.

Agree to Sign a Contract

Many companies won't pay for certification because they fear that once the IT worker earns the certification, it's, "adios, on to bigger and better things." To overcome this objection, be willing to sign a contract agreeing to stay with the company for some predetermined amount of time following certification. Most contracts I have seen stipulate that you must stay with the company between one and two years following certification. Obviously, if the company is making you commit to stay for an unreasonable amount of time-say five or more years-you will need to do some serious soul searching. If you are willing to sign a contract, more and more companies are willing to pay for your certification program.

Be Sneaky

OK, so you have explained to HR that the universe is going to collapse into a black hole if they don't pay for that Citrix certification, and you have even agreed to sign a contract, but your HR manager is harder to convince than the warden in "The Shawshank Redemption." Here is how to take advantage of the loophole in most company-sponsored tuition-assistance programs. As mentioned earlier, most of these policies were intentionally designed to exclude certification by requiring that you receive a letter grade or degree from an "eligible institution." Because the only schools that give out grades and transcripts are colleges and universities, you're stuck with a college instead of a private IT certification program. College, however, is not always the best option for obtaining certification because if you are like most IT workers, you already have a degree, degree programs are often too long, college courses and curriculum do not map well to certification exams, and college courses do not include certification exam fees, practice tests and study materials. So what is someone to do who desires certification but whose company will only pay for college?

The Solution

More and more private certification schools have developed relationships with accredited colleges and universities, where the college will give college credit, letter grades and even a transcript to those taking classes at a certification school. Call around to various IT certification centers and ask if they can provide college credit. Purchase the classes from the college or university, but attend the classes at the certification school. These classes usually include everything you will need to actually get certified in a reasonable time frame: classes, books, study guides, practice tests, exam vouchers and a test-pass guarantee. At the end of the class, the accredited college will administer a short exam so they can assign you a letter grade. The college then bills your company. It's that simple. This plan allows you the best of both worlds: You get the certification training you want and to HR it appears as though you went to college, and most importantly, they pay for it!

Remember our friends Kevin and Ted? Both were attempting to get their MCSA certification paid for by their company. Kevin succeeded in getting everything covered and was able to obtain his certification in only six months. Ted, on the other hand, was only able to get the company to cover his tuition and books and has not even taken an exam yet. In order to qualify for company reimbursement, Kevin and Ted were required to produce a letter grade of C or better from an accredited college. Ted made the mistake of assuming that because he needed to produce a grade transcript from a college or university, he actually had to attend his classes at the college. He enrolled in the local community college, which created two major problems. First, each of the six classes he needed to prepare for the MCSA certification were offered over the course of an entire semester-meeting for only an hour on Tuesday and Thursday evenings. Because the classes had to be completed in order, he could not take multiple classes during the same semester. Therefore, he could only take one class per semester. At this rate, it would have taken him three years to complete the six MCSA classes. Second, the college courses were designed for a degree candidate, not a certification candidate, and therefore, there were no practice tests, study guides or certification exams included in the tuition. Ted was forced to pay for these critical and expensive supplemental materials out of his own pocket. The result: one year after beginning his quest for his MCSA, Ted has completed only two classes and has yet to take one exam.

Kevin, on the other hand, took advantage of the loophole in the company's tuition reimbursement program. To produce a grade transcript from an accredited college, Kevin called around and found a private Microsoft Certification Learning Solutions Partner that had a relationship with a local university. The private training center offered all six MCSA courses in a condensed time frame. The six courses were each taught in eight evenings, four hours per night. At the end of each evening class, Kevin took a short exam. His scores on these exams were used to assign Kevin letter grades. After six months, Kevin was able to complete his entire MCSA certification and was reimbursed the total cost of all six classes, exams, study guides and practice tests. All costs associated with the certification were approved for funding because they had been bundled together into tuition costs by the private certification training center and an accredited college had provided a grade transcript to the company. Voila!

What if My Company Doesn't Offer Tuition Assistance?

If your company does not offer any type of educational assistance, do not just assume that you will have to self-fund your education. Call around to local colleges, universities and private certification centers and ask them about grants. Many grants cover all expenses, including supplemental study materials, practice tests and certification exams. Others cover only tuition and books, but every little bit helps. The following are four government grants that will cover the cost of all or part of your certification program, if you qualify:

Veterans Administration (VA): Offers grants to both active duty and reserve military and sometimes family. Most popular program is the Montgomery GI Bill. However, they offer other grants as well.
Workforce Investment Act (WIA): Designed for those who are unemployed or "under-employed," WIA offers between $3,000 and $15,000 in retraining dollars that may usually be used for certification or degrees. Funds are distributed by each state. Contact your local unemployment office and ask them where the nearest "One Stop Center" is to apply.
Vocational Rehabilitation (VR): Designed for those who have a physical or mental impairment, VR grants are usually very generous and often cover the entire cost of approved certification programs.
Pell Grants: Many workers assume that because they are employed, they will not qualify. Although Pell Grants are need-based, you might qualify based on your income level.

Student Loan Options

OK, if your company won't pay for it, you don't qualify for any grant money and you didn't just win a million bucks on "Deal or No Deal," you will probably have no choice but to take out a student loan. As far as loans go, student loans probably are the best of breed. They have the best terms of any type of loan: payments are usually deferred for at least one year from when you start your program; interest rates on government subsidized loans are usually very low (2 percent to 4 percent); there are usually no pre-payment penalties, so you can pay off the loan early if you like; and the interest you pay is usually tax deductible. Loans at colleges and universities are usually subsidized by the government and, therefore, nearly all applicants are approved unless you have defaulted on a student loan in the past or dealt drugs in a school zone (believe it or not). Loans at private certification schools are usually unsubsidized, which means approval is based on your ability to repay (credit score) and the interest rate is higher-between 8 percent and 18 percent.

Although nobody likes to incur debt, it has been my experience that certification candidates who have to self-fund their education seem to finish their program and pass their tests faster than those whose training is being paid for by their company or a grant. When you have to pay for something with your own money, it tends to take on a higher priority.

Perhaps the most difficult part of budgeting for IT certification involves no money at all: budgeting for time. Your ultimate success will be determined by how well you can balance your time between work, family and studies. If you can manage your time effectively, one thing is certain: It is all downhill from there. Are you up for the challenge?

This Article Reprinted Courtesy of http://certmag.com