EMPLOYEE TUITION ASSISTANCE AND REIMBURSEMENT PROCESS

The College of Architecture, Arts, and Design supports professional development for employees, and encourages individuals to explore and pursue relevant certifications, educational degrees, and associated programs that will advance their career goals and enhance their capacity to contribute to the goals of the college.

The Tuition Benefits Program is designed to accomplish one or more of the following:

  • Increase employees’ knowledge and abilities so that they may take on greater responsibility and prepare for advancement opportunities within the university workforce.
  • Assist employees in obtaining advanced degrees when such degrees are required for continued employment.
  • Enable employees to undertake research or advanced study necessary to meet specific needs of their programs/departments.

Employee tuition benefits include tuition assistance (for coursework taken at Virginia Tech) and tuition reimbursement (for coursework taken at other accredited institutions). Further details can be found in policy 4800 Tuition Benefits Programs for Salaried Employees.

Tuition assistance and tuition reimbursement primarily benefit staff and A/P faculty. T&R faculty receive professional development support from their school, through start up packages and other means, or utilize other available professional development funds.

Both types of tuition benefit requests should be evaluated based on the relevance of the program to the employee’s position, alignment with the goals of the employee as documented on their performance plan or FARS, likelihood of the employee continuing employment with the university, availability of funds, and equitable application of the policy to other employees in the college.

It is the responsibility of the employee to communicate career goals to their supervisor, so that options and opportunities can be explored and reflected in their annual performance plan or FARS.

Programmatic/certification requests should be prioritized if completion of a program or securing a certification aligns with specific business needs for the role and for the college.

Requests for tuition assistance is for coursework that is being taken at Virginia Tech. Requests for tuition assistance are completed through VT Human Resources by clicking on this link hrapps.hr.vt.edu/forms/Listings.aspx

Requests for Tuition Reimbursement is for coursework that is being taken outside of Virginia Tech. It must be in compliance with and submitted as outlined in 4800.pdf (vt.edu). To ensure an equitable approach across the college in assessing and funding tuition reimbursement requests in context with budgetary constraints and meeting the needs of the college, each tuition reimbursement request is accompanied by two forms:

Submission of a Tuition Reimbursement Request form

This college form includes employee information, the educational institution and course, and narrative that provides detail regarding the alignment of the tuition reimbursement request with employee’s documented goals and professional development needs, along with a short business case on the request being made; reason for this pursuit; and the value to the individual, and college.

The form must be reviewed and approved by the employee’s supervisor and the appropriate senior leader (i.e., school director, associate dean, etc.), specifically regarding the alignment with the employee performance plan or FARS and business case provided in the form.

The Assistant Dean for Finance and Administration will review and approve the amount as requested or provide an adjusted tuition reimbursement based on the funding available and the number of requests that have been received.

The college is committed to providing tuition reimbursements of up to $1000 per semester, or up to a total of $2000/year (including summer sessions). Every effort will be made to provide annual funding and keep its commitment for tuition reimbursement. However, budget pressures and financial decisions made by the college or the university, may not allow for funding of the tuition reimbursement requests, even if a reimbursement has been previously approved. Tuition reimbursement, related to the pursuit of courses or degrees outside of Virginia Tech, should be fully contemplated by an employee and evaluated with or without Virginia Tech support since budgets/support cannot be guaranteed from year to year.

Submission of a Memorandum of Agreement for Educational Aid Reimbursement (P126)

Once the Tuition Reimbursement Request form has been approved by all parties and the tuition reimbursement provided to the employee, the Memorandum of Agreement for Educational Aid Reimbursement (P126) P126.pdf (vt.edu) must be submitted and approved by the signatories on the form prior to enrollment in the class.

Process and Timeline for Funding Tuition Reimbursement Requests

AAD is committed to supporting the professional development of its employees, in a manner that is equitable across the college and the schools.

It is the responsibility of the employee’s supervisor and senior leader (i.e. school director or associate dean) to determine that the justification for the tuition reimbursement aligns with the employee’s professional development needs and is appropriate for the goals of the employee, school or functional area.

All Tuition Reimbursement Request forms are to be reviewed and approved by the employee supervisor and the senior leader and then sent to the Assistant Dean for Finance and Administration (ADF) by June 30 each year, and all submitted requests will be reviewed at that time.

Based on a preliminary projection of the funding available for tuition reimbursement, the ADF determines the amount of reimbursement that will be provided to each employee based on the projected funding amount and the number of requests received. The amount of reimbursement will be provided equally to each employee. For example, if $2,000 in funding is available for tuition reimbursement:

  • If there were two requests for Fall semester reimbursement, each requestor would receive $1,000
  • If there were four requests for Fall semester, each requestor would receive $500
  • If there was one request for Fall semester, the requestor would receive $1,000 (the cap), and there would be $1,000 remaining in the fund.

If, after the August 1 request, there is still funding available (third bullet above), additional requests may be submitted no later than November 30. All requests will then be reviewed by the ADF at that time to determine the amount of reimbursement that will be provided to each employee based on the funding amount that is remaining and the number of requests received.