March 20, 2025

Reducing the Cost of Higher Education

Olympic Steel offers a comprehensive Educational Assistance Program for employees to help reduce the costs associated with earning your GED or post-secondary education certifications and degrees.

Thinking about continuing or completing your education? Did you know that Olympic Steel has an Educational Assistance Program that can reimburse up to 100% of tuition expenses for approved programs?

 

EDUCATIONAL ASSISTANCE PROGRAM

As one of our Core Values, employee development is important to Olympic Steel. And we support employees’ educational and professional development efforts through financial assistance for approved programs, according to the guidelines summarized below. Click HERE to read all the program details.

 

  • Eligibility – All full-time and part-time regular employees who work at least thirty (30) hours per week, have completed ninety (90) calendar days of continuous employment and their introductory period prior to beginning an approved class/program.
  • Approved Programs – Reimbursement will only be made for approved programs that commence following the employee’s eligibility for the program. Approved programs are required educational courses or sessions, delivered by an accredited college, university, technical school or certified institution to obtain on of the following degrees:
  • General Educational Development (GED)
  • Skilled Trade Certification
  • Two-Year Associate Degree
  • Four-Year Undergraduate Degree
  • Graduate Degree
  • Approved Areas of Study – Areas of study at the college level must be beneficial and applicable to jobs at Olympic Steel. These include, but are not limited to: sales, marketing, finance, accounting, economics, human resources, management, business administration, computer information systems, maintenance technician, quality technician, logistics. The course of study must be applicable to your current or targeted future position with Olympic Steel.
  • Reimbursement – Employees are reimbursed for a percentage of eligible expenses (direct education costs – tuition, lab fees, books and materials) based on the earned letter grade at the end of the academic course as indicated below:
  • GED and Tech/Professional Certifications
  • Pass = 100%
  • Fail = 0%
  • Associate, Undergraduate and Graduate Degrees
  • A or B = 100%
  • C = 60%
  • D or F = 0%
  • Administrative Process – You must complete the Pre-Approval for Educational Assistance form and submit it to Human Resources for approval at least two weeks BEFORE the course begins. When the course is complete, submit the Request for Educational Assistance Reimbursement form to Human Resources for final reimbursement approval. Reimbursement requests must be submitted within thirty (30) calendar days from the posting of the course grade.

 

QUESTIONS?

If you have any questions or need help completing paperwork, please reach out to your Human Resources Manager.