Could your employer sponsor your next degree?

The cost of a degree is one of the most common barriers people cite when thinking about going back into education. But there is a route that many employees overlook: asking their employer to help fund it.

Employer-sponsored degrees are more common than people realise, and the case for asking is stronger than you might think. This guide explains what employer sponsorship looks like in practice, how to balance work and study, and how to make a compelling case to your employer.

Can you work and study at the same time?

Yes, and more people do it than you might expect. Online, part-time degrees are specifically designed for people who are in full-time employment. You study at your own pace, fitting learning around your working hours, your family, and your other commitments. There are no fixed lecture times and no commute to a campus.

Most part-time degree students study in the evenings and at weekends, putting in between 15 and 20 hours a week depending on their workload at any given point in the academic year. The flexibility means you can ease off during busy periods at work and put in more time when things are quieter.

The key is treating your study time as protected time rather than something that fits in around everything else. Students who treat it like a professional commitment, blocking it in their diary and holding to it, tend to complete their degrees. Those who rely on spare time that never quite materialises tend to struggle.

Studying while working also has a direct benefit for your employer. The skills and knowledge you are building in your degree can be applied to your current role as you learn them. This is something worth highlighting when you make your case for sponsorship.

How to convince an employer to sponsor your degree

Many employers have some form of learning and development budget, and some actively encourage employees to pursue formal qualifications. But the conversation will go better if you approach it as a business case rather than a personal request. Here is how to think about it.

Sponsoring employees makes financial sense

The cost of replacing an employee is substantial. Research consistently shows that hiring costs, onboarding, and lost productivity during the transition typically add up to a significant multiple of an employee’s salary. According to the DfE Employer Skills Survey 2024, UK employers spent a total of £53 billion on workforce training in 2024. Investing in an existing employee’s development is almost always cheaper than recruiting and training a replacement.

A degree that builds skills directly relevant to your role delivers a clear return. If your programme covers areas that your employer needs, such as business management, data analysis, leadership, or technical skills, the organisation benefits from your improved capability while you study, not just after you finish.

Frame your request in terms of what the employer gains, not just what you want. What problems will you be better placed to solve? What responsibilities could you take on? What skills gap does your qualification address? Employers who see the business case are far more likely to say yes.

Supporting current employees helps attract new talent

Employers who invest in their people’s development build a reputation as good places to work. This matters in recruitment. When candidates are choosing between two similar roles, the availability of learning and development support is often a deciding factor.

If your employer does not currently offer degree sponsorship, proposing it for yourself could become the starting point for a broader policy. Many organisations have introduced sponsorship schemes because a single motivated employee made the case first. You could be the person who creates that opportunity for colleagues who come after you.

In your conversation with your employer, it is worth noting that offering development opportunities is increasingly important to employees. A company that actively invests in its people’s education signals that it takes long-term development seriously, which is attractive to the kind of ambitious, capable candidates most organisations want to recruit.

Supporting personal development can improve employee retention

One of the most consistent findings in employment research is that employees who feel their employer invests in their development are more likely to stay. The relationship is intuitive: if an organisation is helping you grow, you are less likely to look elsewhere.

Retention matters because losing good people is expensive. The cost of finding, hiring, and bringing a replacement up to speed is significant, and the disruption to teams and projects is often hard to quantify but very real. An employer who sponsors your degree is, in effect, making an investment in keeping you.

Some employers attach a retention agreement to sponsorship arrangements, requiring the employee to stay with the organisation for a period after completing their qualification. This is reasonable and worth discussing openly. It aligns everyone’s interests: you get the qualification, the employer gets a developed employee and protection against losing that investment immediately.

When you raise the topic with your employer, acknowledge this directly. Offer to discuss what a commitment arrangement would look like. It shows you are thinking about the arrangement seriously and from both sides.

How to approach the conversation

Timing and preparation both matter. Here are the key steps:

•   Choose the right moment. Avoid raising it in the middle of a difficult period for the business or during your annual review, where it might feel like a negotiating tactic. A one-to-one development conversation is usually the best setting.
•   Be specific about the qualification. Come with a clear proposal. Which course, which university, how long it takes, how much it costs, and how you intend to study around your work commitments. Vagueness makes it easy for an employer to say ‘let me think about it’ and never come back to it.
•   Make the business case clearly. Explain how the qualification relates to your role and your employer’s goals. The more you can tie your personal development to the organisation’s needs, the stronger your case becomes.
•   Address concerns pre-emptively. Will your work suffer while you study? How will you manage busy periods? Be ready with honest answers. Employers who ask these questions are not trying to block you; they are trying to understand the risk.
•   Put it in writing after the conversation. If your employer agrees, follow up with a summary of what has been agreed, including the amount, the duration, and any conditions. This protects both parties and removes any ambiguity.

Discover part-time degrees with Arden University

Arden University offers a wide range of courses at both undergraduate and postgraduate level, all available online and part time. Our programmes are designed for people in employment who want to study without stepping away from their careers.

Many of our students are sponsored by their employers, and we have experience working with both individuals and organisations to make those arrangements work well. If you are putting together a proposal for your employer, we can provide course information, cost breakdowns, and details of how our programmes are structured, all of which can help you build a clear and persuasive case.

Whether your employer agrees to fund your studies in full, partially, or not at all, studying with Arden gives you the flexibility to make it work around your life. Get in touch to find out which programme is the right fit for your goals.