A testimony from Jenae
My husband and I both recently received our Master’s degrees in our individual fields — his in Business Management and mine in Education. Our educational pursuits came at a time of great transition for our family and wouldn’t have been possible without a financial decision made early on in our marriage.
The Background
My husband and I were married three and a half years prior to our first child being born. After lots of prayer and discussion immediately after we were married, we felt it was the best thing for our family for me to stay home (at least part-time) once we had children.
I finished up my last year of college that first year of our marriage and we were used to living on just my husband’s salary. After graduation, I was offered the wonderful opportunity of teaching first graders — a job I truly loved. Once those monthly checks came in it felt like we had tons of money!
Remembering our desire for me to stay home once we had children, we decided we would to continue to live on just my husband’s salary and elected to have my salary directly deposited into a savings account (that way we wouldn’t be tempted to spend it). This might have been the single best financial decision we have ever made.
After being a first grade teacher for one year, I soon realized that the only way to increase my salary was to receive more education, so I decided to enroll in a Master’s degree program at a nearby university.
During this time, my husband worked for a company that reimbursed 100% of tuition fees for a Master’s Degree program. My tuition, however, was our responsibility. Thanks to our decision to save my income, we had built up a nice nest egg and were able to pay cash and still have money left over in savings.
I graduated with my Master’s degree just three months after our first son was born and resigned at the end of that school year — a choice that wouldn’t have been possible without three years of saving! Even though I resigned immediately after graduation and have yet to receive any monetary incentive, I know that I will return to the classroom someday and will continue to reap the rewards — both monetarily and in knowledge. Plus, it helped prepare me to be able to start my blog with learning activities for parents of young children called I Can Teach My Child!
No More Paid Tuition!
A year after our son was born and right in the middle of my husband’s MBA program, he was presented with a new job opportunity. This new position had better pay and benefits, but no longer offered tuition reimbursement.
After prayerful consideration, we decided it was in his best interest to go ahead and finish, even though the cost was steep. This was quite a stretch for us, since we had gone from two incomes down to one, but we felt convinced it was the right thing to do.
Kevin graduated this past May with his MBA and we didn’t go a penny into debt in the process! We are so thankful for our decision to save all of my income for three years — it has allowed me to stay home with our two children and paid for both of our Master’s degrees!
Jenae is a wife, mother of two boys’ ages 2 ½ and 11 months, and former first-grade teacher. She loves spending time with her family and sharing fun and educational activities for young children on her website I Can Teach My Child.
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