I work at an European company for 1,5 years now (50-100 employees) and I'm the only one in my job role. Management has a "learning by experience" mentality which means you just learn by doing, not by extended training. Because I need more challenges in my job role and because I have no one to learn from I requested if I could do a course to improve my knowledge and skills. (First course would be 1000 euros, second course 2500). Most of the study time would be outside office hours. This is the first paid education I'm asking for.
They said I can't do it now because we have cash flow problems and it's not clear if the company will do well financially the coming months. If they would have, they'd pay me the course, but the cash flow problems occur quite frequently since we're having trouble finding sufficient customers.
I already offered to pay a part of the course, but I don't want to pay it all myself because I think it will be of great value for my work. I also would prefer not to leave my job at the moment, but I'm not sure how long I should wait before they give me educational benefits. How can I handle this best?