Tuition Reimbursement

Purpose

Departments may, at their option, use departmental funds to reimburse employees for tuition costs for eligible educational aid programs after course completion. The employee must demonstrate proof of satisfactory course completion to the Department.

Eligibility

This policy is applicable to full-time salaried faculty, classified staff, and wage (excluding students) employees; and part-time salaried faculty and classified staff. Part-time is defined as at least 20 hours per week or 50% effort excluding students.

Roles and Responsibilities

The UHR Faculty and Staff Career Services Division is responsible for educational benefits policies and administers the Tuition Reimbursement Program. The Director of UHR Employee Career Services reviews Tuition Reimbursement Forms for policy compliance and job relatedness, and approves or disapproves tuition reimbursement requests.

The Employee, prior to registration, submits tuition reimbursement form for approval to Department then Faculty and Staff Career Services. After approval, the employee registers and pays for the course. After satisfactory course completion, the employee initiates the tuition reimbursement process by submitting the approved tuition reimbursement form, paid tuition bill and evidence of satisfactory course completion to the Department, which processes the payment.

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Forms

The "Tuition Reimbursement Form" is used to apply for Tuition Reimbursement. This form is included at the end of this document and as a link off the on-line version of this policy.

General Information

Tuition Reimbursement Description

1. Applies to study for credit or non-credit courses; no auditing is permitted. Non-credit courses may be taken at a high school, business school, technical institute, or other educational institution. Courses taken for college credit must be taken at an institution that has been accredited by a regional accrediting organization for higher education, and may be taken at a community college, college, university, on-line or other mode of learning.
2. Part-time study cannot exceed 11 undergraduate semester credits or 8 graduate semester credits per academic semester.
3. Courses must meet one or more of the following criteria: be job-related, or required in a job-related curriculum, degree program, professional certificate or license; or if a classified employee, support the documented "Employee Development Plan" section of the employee's Employee Work Profile (EWP).
4. The tuition reimbursement request must be made, and approval granted, before registration.
5. Eligibility: The employee must be either full-time salaried faculty or classified staff with 90 days of continuous salaried service, or a full-time wage employee with 90 days of continuous service with no more than one, 30 day break in service; OR the employee must be part-time salaried faculty or classified staff with 6 months of continuous salaried service. Part-time is defined as 20 hours per week or 50% effort. The period of service is measured from date of hire to the first day of the course.
6. Reimbursement for courses taken at an institution other than the University of Virginia will be made for tuition costs up to but not exceeding in-state tuition costs of an equivalent course at the University of Virginia.
7. Total reimbursement for tuition costs may be made for a course taken at an institution other than the University of Virginia when the equivalent course is not available at the University of Virginia.
8. eimbursement may be made for registration, tuition, exams and laboratory fees. Other fees, and expenditures for books or study materials may not be reimbursed.
9. For full-time and part-time salaried faculty and full-time classified staff, courses may be taken during or after working hours.
10. If taken after working hours, the Department may provide tuition reimbursement for full-time and part-time salaried faculty and full-time classified staff, part-time classified staff and full-time wage employees for the entire cost of approved courses up to the maximum credits for part-time study. (The maximum credits for part-study per semester are 11 credits for undergraduate and 8 credits for graduate study.)
11. Part-time salaried classified staff and full-time wage employees must take courses during non-working hours, or adjust work schedules to take the course during non-working hours. Supervisors are encouraged to adjust work schedules as far as practical to permit attendance.
12. If taken during working hours, the Department may pay for a full-time classified staff employee's tuition and excuse an him/her from duties to attend no more than three semester credit hours (or equivalent) taken during working hours per semester. Full-time employees may, with supervisor permission, adjust work schedules to take the course, or the amount exceeding three (3) semester hours, during non-working hours or use leave. Supervisors are encouraged to adjust work schedules as far as practical to permit attendance. If a course is more than three semester credit hours (or equivalent) and taken during working hours, the employee is considered to be on Educational Leave with Partial Pay for the time of absence. See the Educational Leave with Partial Pay Policy for more information.
13. The employee may receive tuition reimbursement provided he/she satisfactorily completes the course with receipt of certification or licensure or shows evidence of completion with a C- or better (if graded) or pass (if pass/fail) or credit (if credit/no credit) or did attend (if noncredit).
14. The employee is no longer eligible for tuition reimbursement if he/she does not complete the course satisfactorily, drops or withdraws from the course/s; leaves the University before completing the course; or if full-time or part-time salaried, reduces status to less than 20 hours per week or 50% effort; or if wage, does not remain on full-time status for any reason.
15. The dollar value of the Tuition Reimbursement may be considered taxable income, depending on the total value of the educational benefits received in a year. Contact the payroll office for more information.

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Related Programs

Eligible employees may receive tuition assistance for job-related courses taken at fully accredited institutions. Tuition Assistance, which uses departmental funds to reimburse for a course before course completion, is described in the Tuition Assistance Policy. Tuition Waiver may be used by eligible employees to take one UVA course (and applicable lab or discussion group ) per semester at no charge. Tuition Waiver is described in the Tuition Waiver Policy. Tuition reimbursement/reimbursement and tuition waiver may be used concurrently but not for the same course.

Tuition Reimbursement Procedures:

1. Prior to course registration, the employee completes Section I of the Tuition Reimbursement Form and submits it to the appropriate dean or department head.
2. The dean/department head reviews the request to determine need, job relatedness and funding availability. If approved, the dean or department head completes Section II of the Tuition Reimbursement Form and forwards the original to UHR Faculty and Staff Career Services. If the department head disapproves, the form is returned to the requesting employee.
3. The Director of UHR Faculty and Staff Career Services reviews the Tuition Reimbursement Form for job relatedness and compliance with policy. The request is approved or disapproved and the original is returned to the point of contact listed on the Form.
4. The employee registers, pays for the course and attends the course.
5. Full-time salaried classified staff in a study program providing more than three (3) semester hours (or equivalent) during working hours must take the course outside of working hours or, with their supervisor's permission, adjust their work schedule so that the course or the amount exceeding three (3) semester hours, are taken outside of working hours, or use leave. Supervisors are encouraged to adjust work schedules as far as practical to permit attendance. Alternatively, if the employee does attend courses for more than 3 semester hours during working hours, he/she is considered to be on educational leave with partial pay for time of absence. Full salary may be paid only for the work period, half salary for the time of absence and the employee must execute a promissory note at 3% for all expenses and the half salary paid by the University. See the Educational Leave with Partial Pay Policy for more information.
6. Part-time salaried classified staff and full-time wage employees must take the course outside of working hours or, with their supervisor's permission, adjust their work schedule so that the course is taken outside of working hours. Supervisors are encouraged to adjust work schedules as far as practical to permit attendance.
7. After completion of the course, the employee submits the paid tuition bill, approved Tuition Reimbursement Form, and record (e.g., grade report, transcript) that he/she satisfactorily did complete the course with a C- or better (if for a grade), credit (if credit/no credit), pass (if pass/fail) or did attend the course (if noncredit) to the Department’s business manager, who processes the Integrated System business transaction ”Tuition Reimbursement – Employee” that results in payment to the employee.
8. The employee's department is responsible for maintaining tuition reimbursement records on each employee who uses the program, including information in what courses were taken, dates of courses, costs of tuition, and completion of courses.

Tuition Reimbursement Form

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Effective July, 2002