Alitza Vega, a human resources specialist at the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, has made the most of her education benefits.

Her agency repaid part of the balance of her undergraduate student loan with the University of Miami, where she received a bachelor's degree in 2004 in business administration with a concentration in human resources.

And FERC is now paying for some of her classes in a master's program in organizational management at George Washington University, which she will finish in December.

Vega said she would have enrolled in the $36,000 master's program even without financial assistance from her agency, but it would have taken her longer to complete.

FERC paid for four classes, about $10,000 worth, through its academic training program, Vega said. She took out loans for the rest of the cost.

Vega, a GS-13 employee, decided to go back to school to get more advanced skills that would enable her to contribute more to her organization.

She has already applied some of her learning: A survey her agency conducted was more effective because of her new statistics skills, she said.

Vega works in recruitment, which requires her to market FERC as an employer. That includes telling both current and prospective employees about their education benefits.

"I'm a walking example of it," she said. "I believe in it.

"The student loan repayment program is good for us in terms of retention."

Federal employees should think of their education benefits the same way they think of their health or life insurance coverage and their retirement benefits because agencies view tuition assistance as part of a compensation package.

There's no good excuse for not pursuing further education when there's a reasonable chance your agency will help you pay for it. Agencies want and need to educate their workforces.

Education assistance is a benefit on top of salary, said Eugene Mayo, human resources director at FERC.

"It's like an investment, and we want to see a return on that investment," Mayo said.

While education and training budgets are restricted, the government has increased spending on its loan reimbursement program each year since it started in 2002.

For example, FERC spent $1.1 million in 2008, the latest year for which figures are available, toward student loans for 113 employees, including engineers, biologists and economists, according to an Office of Personnel Management report on the Federal Student Loan Repayment Program. That was more than double what FERC spent in 2007, consistent with increases by other participating agencies. FERC figures for 2009 will show a further increase over 2008, Mayo said.

Since 2002, the number of repayment recipients governmentwide has skyrocketed from 690 at 16 agencies to 6,879 at 35 agencies in 2008. The dollars spent overall have increased from $3.2 million in 2002 to $51.7 million in 2008.

As long as eligible employees meet the conditions for repayment, such as performing at a certain level and choosing an accredited school, the agency supports the request, Mayo said. So far, FERC has not had to turn down requests because of lack of funding.

"Knowledge is power," Mayo said. "The more you know, the more effective you can be at your job. Education provides that."

Demand outpaces funding

However, 17 agencies told OPM in the report on 2008 data that lack of funding is an impediment to fully using the program.

The Justice Department, particularly the FBI, is the biggest user of the student loan repayment program. In all, Justice spent $23.4 million on loans for 2,610 employees in 2008. Justice employees accounted for 38 percent of the recipients governmentwide.

Still, within Justice, the loan repayment program for attorneys cannot accommodate the demand for reimbursements, and attorneys must compete for the available dollars.

"There are individuals who don't make the cut in a year" because of limited funds, said Lou DeFalaise, director of Justice's Office of Attorney Recruitment and Management, which runs the repayment program for attorneys.

Among 300 requests for reimbursement last year, DeFalaise's office was able to fund 56.

"Regrettably, nobody has the funding to completely, 100 percent support such programs with everyone who is deserving or qualified for it," said Deana Willis, assistant director of the office.

Attorneys must submit justification when requesting consideration for loan repayments. Justification can be either high or unique qualifications relevant to department duties, or a special need of the department. For example, attorneys may indicate they are members of a specialty bar; have held judicial clerkships if relevant to their jobs; or contribute directly to preventing terrorism, promoting national security and preventing or reducing crime.

They also can show potential through their performance evaluations, if they have done pro bono work or other public service, or through mentoring.

Applicants also submit details of their education, such as whether they worked on a law review or competitive moot court, and whether they hold other advanced degrees.

They must write a short essay either on the greatest challenge faced pursuing their legal career or greatest contribution to the legal profession.

DeFalaise said the department uses a selection system to decide who receives grants in as fair and transparent a way as possible. Multiple people review and score every application and then average scores so that hard graders balance out easy graders, he said.

The attorney program pays a maximum of $6,000 per year per recipient, even though Congress in 2003 authorized a maximum of $10,000.

"We did not change, because a decision was made that we wanted to help as many people as we could by keeping the lower figure," DeFalaise said.

In deciding how much to pay, the attorney program also takes earnings into account. Below a salary of $84,000, the recipient automatically receives the full $6,000 a year. Those who earn above that receive an amount matching what they pay, up to $6,000 a year.

The attorney program did raise the lifetime cap, as authorized, from $40,000 to $60,000 per person.

Recipients who receive an initial award can receive one again in each of the two additional years of their three-year employment obligation. After that, they must reapply if they want further reimbursement.

The student loan repayment program benefits the agency, the individuals who receive payment toward their loan principal, and taxpayers, DeFalaise said. The program makes it more affordable for highly qualified attorneys to participate in public service even though they may be struggling financially because it's typical to come out of law school with a six-figure debt, he said.

"We think it's a winning program all the way around," DeFalaise said.

Jonathan Blacker, a trial attorney in the tax division in Dallas, said the program knocked as much as 10 years off his loan. He graduated from law school at Southern Methodist University in Dallas in 1996 and started working for Justice in 1999.

As an incentive to stay on at Justice, Blacker says the program works. Paying down the principal on his loan has been a relief, he said.

Blacker said he knows attorneys who make high salaries in private practice who would like to work for the government but can't afford the pay cut. Conversely, some government attorneys have left to work for private firms because of higher salaries.

"When you have a program like this, it makes that challenge much easier to overcome," Blacker said. "It kept me here."

The attorney student loan repayment program is open to all employees and incoming hires holding attorney positions, who can nominate themselves. They must meet certain criteria. But the department also can use the program to attract and retain people with necessary skills such as fluency in a foreign language, or to work in geographically remote areas.