I have a pretty unusual opportunity but I'm not sure it's worth the effort and could use some advice. I've been working for the SEC in a regional office for 6 years and completed 10 credit hours of financial regulation at GULC via distance learning only available to SEC employees. To get the LLM I need 14 more credit hours and GULC offers a 15% discount bringing the remaining cost to about $26,000. It is possible that the SEC would reimburse me for all or part of that cost but it's not a guarantee and even if they pay for it I would have to pay all or some of it back if I left before 3-4 years.

My SEC experience has clearly opened a ton of doors for me considering I came from Cardozo and wasn't high in my class and I had a plain state school undergrad. So will this LLM really help me out? Is it worth the potential $26k and workload or does it not mean anything compared to my SEC experience.

I'm not sure I want to leave the SEC at any point in the foreseeable future but I want to build my resume up to be able to leave (maybe Partner?) one day....years from now... if I want.

And if you're wondering how I got a job at the SEC it was because I had prior financial regulator experience before law school and had a very strong finance background/knowledge which happened to be what they were looking for at the time they hired me. I probably wouldn't get hired in today's market because the applicant pool is stronger today.

So is it worth the money and effort? I'm really looking for professionals in the industry more than prospective students or other commentators that are speculating without sufficient experience. Thanks for the help.