Title: Educational Benefits
Approved by:
Date Approved:
Effective Date: 07/01/2014
Responsible Official: VP of HR
Responsible University Office: Benefits Office
Revision History:
Related Legislation and University Policies: Tuition Waiver Procedure; Tuition Reimbursement Procedure; Tuition Exchange Program
Review Period: 5 years
Date of Last Review:
Relates to: eligible faculty, executive staff, senior staff, and staff
Exclusions: temporary employees, term employees
Policy Statement
The university offers two opportunities to eligible employees to pursue their education in a degree program through 1) tuition reimbursement and 2) tuition waiver. In addition, spouses, domestic partners, and dependents of employees have an opportunity to pursue their education at the university through a modified tuition waiver program. Every employee has different educational interests, talents, and financial needs, so this policy is designed to satisfy the more general and global needs of the employee community such as to:
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Support employees' pursuit of study in a degree program at CWRU.
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Allow employees to adapt their working hours, with supervisory approval, to accommodate class schedules while still working the expected hours per their full-time or part-time status.
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Provide financial assistance, at the undergraduate level, to spouses, domestic partners, employees' dependents and domestic partners dependents pursuing studies in a CWRU degree program.
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Provide financial assistance to retirees, employees on disability, employees on military leave, and limited assistance to family members of these individuals pursuing studies at CWRU.
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Provide financial assistance to employees pursuing job-related studies at other accredited academic institutions.
Tuition Reimbursement
The Benefits Office is responsible for communicating the details relating to tuition reimbursement. Generally, tuition reimbursement is allowable to eligible employees completing job-related courses at accredited degree-granting institutions. Pre-approval is required to receive tuition reimbursement and is limited to six credit hours per semester, up to a maximum of $2,500 during the July-June fiscal year. Employees are responsible for selecting whether they prefer to request tuition reimbursement or tuition waiver; they may not request both concurrently during the fiscal year.
Tuition Waiver
The Benefits Office is responsible for communicating the details for employees requesting tuition waiver as well as for employees dependents and domestic partners dependents requesting tuition waiver. Upon employment, full-time employees and dependent children, including dependent children of domestic partners, are eligible for tuition waiver. Spouses or domestic partners of employees who have one year of service are eligible for tuition waiver in degreed and non-degreed programs. Employees should review the summary plan description, application procedures and specific guidelines in effect with regard to limitations and requirements regarding employee maximums, applicable degreed programs, academic progress, termination of employment, and excluded course work.
Part-time, benefits-eligible employees who work half-time or more are eligible for the same benefits but their tuition waiver will be pro-rated.
Tuition Exchange Program
Case Western Reserve University is a member of The Tuition Exchange. See here for more information.