College Tuition

"At the age of 49, I found myself separated from my husband and living in Florida with my two youngest sons in a rambling 100-year-old house that was much too expensive for us."

Nancy Fowler knew she was ripe for change, but she never imaged where her reinvention would take her. Step one was selling her house and moving to Gainesville, Georgia, to be near her sister and parents.

Of all the many benefits that employers can offer their employees, one that is usually underappreciated—but potentially most valuable— is tuition reimbursement. Not all companies offer help with college, of course, and recent economic belt-tightening has reduced the numbers, but still, two of three American companies offer assistance for undergraduate education (down from 78% in 2004), and 56% offer assistance for grad school.