IV.19 Tuition Reimbursement

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Chapter Topics: [ I. Administration & Governance] [ II. Funding, Budget and Operations] [ III. Personnel ] [ IV. Other Personnel Policies ] [ V. Curriculum and Related Policies ] [ VI. Student Academic Affairs ] [ VII. College Relations ] [ VIII. Resources & Services ] [ Glossary of L&S Terms ]

Chapter IV Contents: [ IV.1 Orientation of New Staff ] [ IV.2 Employee Benefits: Overview ] [ IV.3 When a Staff Member Retires ] [ IV.4 Joint Governance Appointments ] [ IV.5 Awards and Honors for Faculty and Staff ] [ IV.6 Faculty and Staff Liability ] [ IV.7 Review of Tenured Faculty ] [ IV.8 Reporting Outside Interests & Activities ] [ IV.9 Overloads and Summer Appointments ] [ IV.10 Sexual Harassment Policies & Procedures ] [ IV.11 Nepotism, Conflict of Interest ] [ IV.12 Vacation Policy ] [ IV.13 Sick Leave Policy ] [ IV.14 Leave of Absence, Temporary Assignment ] [ IV.15 Extensions of the Tenure Clock ] [ IV.16 Absences from Madison ] [ IV.17 Disability Accommodation ] [ IV.18 Personnel Records: Content & Preservation ] [ IV.19 Tuition Reimbursement ] [ IV.20 Faculty Personnel Committee ] [ IV.21 UW-Madison Domestic Partnership Policy ] [ IV.22 Inclement Weather Guidelines ] [ IV.23 Telecommuting Policy ]

IV.19 TUITION REIMBURSEMENT

The College of Letters and Science, as evidenced by its own mission, recognizes the value of education and the role that education plays in creating a fulfilled and productive work force. Both the College's and its employees' interests are well-served by the College supporting, to the extent possible, employees in their quests for higher education. To that end, it is important for the College to have a tuition reimbursement policy that is consistent across all its departments.

The College recognizes, also, that it has limited financial and staffing resources and that a tuition reimbursement program is only one of many demands on limited funds. However, professional development cost was one of the factors in the formula used to determine departmental supplies budgets and, therefore, a modest amount of funds that can be used for tuition reimbursement is built into departmental budgets.

Therefore, within the constraints of its budget, the College will permit employees to take leaves without pay (or an employee can use earned, as opposed to anticipated, vacation allowance) in order to attend classes of their choosing. The College will allow departments to use salary savings from these leaves without pay to hire temporary replacements for the employees pursuing educational opportunities.

The department will always pay for all costs associated with employer-required training programs that supplement basic skills needed to perform the job. In addition, employees independently may elect to take courses that interest them. Tuition reimbursement will be provided only for course work that is directly and immediately related to the job being performed at the time of registration and subject to the rules/guidelines of the pertinent campus policies and labor contracts. An employee who is enrolled in a degree program is following a personal development program which is a personal expense, not provided for in the departmental funding algorithm and not reimbursable from departmental or College funds, regardless of funding source; however, some courses within the degree program may be reimbursable because they are directly related to an employee's current job. For represented employees, tuition reimbursement will be handled in accordance with the relevant labor agreement.

The Request For Authorization to Reimburse Employee Fee/Tuition form (http://www.ohr.wisc.edu/Forms/tuit624.pdf) must be presented to and approved by the supervisor, the department chair, the dean's office, and the campus academic or classified personnel office before beginning the course work. Approved reimbursement will be made upon successful completion of the course work. Campus personnel policies and labor contracts have limitations that apply to affected groups of employees and those limitations must be observed, also.