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This summer I'm working at a paid internship. As I've performed very well, my employer wants to hire me full time (this pipeline is the reason the company hires interns), but knows I'm going back to graduate school (non-thesis program, just classes) in the fall and spring, so I will only be able to work part time. However, my boss really wants to offer me full-time employment (and much higher pay), and suggested I spread out my next year of graduate school over the next two years. This would certainly make me more money, and give my employer the benefit of knowing I'm not going anywhere for two years.

However, unknown to my boss, in a year I'm moving across the country to live with my partner, who is also graduating at that time. Therefore, I need to finish school in one year (as planned), which only lets me work part time.

Refusing the full-time position will essentially tell my boss I don't intend to stay with the company. However, I really do want to continue working (albeit part time) for the next year. Will I be jeopardizing my job if I admit to my boss that I already know I'm leaving in a year?

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    I won't care that much, but I would prioritize studies over student job. So refuse the full-time position, tell your employer that you can work part time. If he don't want you to, find another part time job (given the demand for CS skills, that won't be very hard). Risking your graduation for a student job is unreasonable: the CS degree you are getting will still be valuable in 10 years. Don't give up your future CS degree. But don't tell you are leaving in one year. You don't need to give a reason why you want to stay part-time
    – Basile Starynkevitch
    Jul 7, 2018 at 6:07
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    You should explain that you want to finish your CS degree in time. In most countries that degree has more value than a summer student job experience, and your employer knows that.
    – Basile Starynkevitch
    Jul 7, 2018 at 6:16
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    Those comments should be an answer
    – user1666620
    Jul 7, 2018 at 11:27
  • Be sure you explore possibilities. If you like your current job, I'd be wary of leaving it for grad school, unless you are sure you really want to go to grad school. Very few graduate students become tenured professors. For what it's worth, I have a PhD, but went straight from K-12 to under-grad to graduate school, without any non-University jobs at all.
    – JosephDoggie
    Dec 7, 2022 at 18:09

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Refusing the full-time position will essentially tell my boss I don't intend to stay with the company. However, I really do want to continue working (albeit part time) for the next year. Will I be jeopardizing my job if I admit to my boss that I already know I'm leaving in a year?

There's no real way for someone outside to know if you will be jeopardizing your current position or not. You know your boss the best and are in the best position to predict how they will react.

If the goal of the internship program is mostly to be a pipeline toward hiring full time employees, then it would be reasonable to conclude that the intern positions are held for people on that track. And that means your slot may indeed be in jeopardy.

You could simply stand firm on your desire to continue along your one-year plan and only work part time without digging in to the reasons why. It's perfectly reasonable for a student not to want their school years dragged out.

Or you could seek an internship elsewhere for one year.

Or you could be honest about your move in a year, see where that leads in your current role and deal with it as it falls.

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