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Undergraduate Tuition Benefits for Dependent Children of Staff Members

Purpose

The Undergraduate Tuition Benefit Program provides a variety of tuition benefits to staff members and their dependents. One feature of the Undergraduate Tuition Benefit Program is to provide tuition benefits to an eligible staff member's dependent children enrolled in an undergraduate or trade school certificate program at Carnegie Mellon or other accredited institutions.

Eligibility

In order to be eligible for undergraduate tuition benefits, staff members must satisfy the following eligibility requirements:

• Must have completed three years of full-time service with Carnegie Mellon. The three-year service requirement may be reduced or waived if the staff member performed sufficient service at another college/university and meets participation requirements; and
• Must be full-time benefits-eligible.

In order to be eligible for undergraduate tuition benefits, children of staff members must satisfy the following eligibility requirements:

• Must meet IRS dependency exemption criteria; and
• Must be born to, legally adopted by, or a stepchild of the eligible staff member, or the child of the employee’s domestic partner; and
• Must be enrolled in an undergraduate (bachelor or associate) degree program, trade school certification program, or community college before the age of 30.

Service Requirement

One year of full-time service will be credited if, during a staff member's employment year, they worked full time for nine months; they need not be consecutive months.

One month of service credit will be given as long as the staff member is full-time benefits-eligible on the first day of the month. For example, if you begin a full-time appointment on the first day of the month, that month will count as a credit month toward meeting the service requirement; if the appointment begins on the second through the last day of the month, you will not earn one credit month for that month.

If you worked part-time and had at least 1,000 hours of service during a year, then you will be credited with half a year of service toward the three-year service requirement, for up to one year of credit. The remaining two years of the three-year service requirement must have been worked while you were full-time and eligible for this benefit.

Service accumulates during approved university leaves of absence for full-time staff members as summarized below:

• Disability Leave of Absence — Applied toward full-time service requirement.
• Family and Medical Leave — Applied toward full-time service requirement if working full-time when the Family and Medical Leave began.
• Personal Leave of Absence — Service does not accumulate.

If a staff member separates from employment at Carnegie Mellon but returns to a full-time position within five years, prior full-time service will apply toward the service requirement. If the staff member is discharged for willful misconduct or does not return within five years from their separation date, prior full-time service will not be applied toward the service requirement.

Participation

Staff members must meet the eligibility and service requirements set forth above by the following dates:

• October 1 to be eligible for the Fall term
• February 1 to be eligible for the Winter/Spring term
• June 1 to be eligible for the Summer term

Eligibility may be continued under the following circumstances:

• For a staff member who separates from employment, benefits continue to the end of the current term.
• For a staff member who has a change in employment status (e.g., full-time to part-time status) which would make them ineligible for this benefit during a term, the benefit will cease at the end of the current term in which the employment status change occurs.
• For a staff member on an approved university leave of absence, eligibility continues (subject to the applicable leave policy) as summarized below:
  
  • Disability Leave of Absence — Benefits paid while on Disability Leave.
  • Family and Medical Leave — Benefits paid while on Family and Medical Leave if working full-time when the Family and Medical Leave began.
  • Personal Leave of Absence — Benefits paid through current term only.
• For an eligible staff member who retires at age 62 or later with at least 15 years of service or for an eligible staff member who retires at age 65 or later with at least ten years of service, dependent children remain eligible during retirement.
• For an eligible staff member who dies after ten or more years of service, dependent children remain eligible.
• For a member of the Carnegie Mellon Campus Police Association who is killed in the line of duty, dependent children remain eligible.

Benefit Amount

Tuition Benefits at Carnegie Mellon

A 100% tuition benefit is provided for dependent children enrolled in courses at Carnegie Mellon for a maximum of eight terms.

A 50% tuition benefit is provided for dependent children who enroll in the Pre-College Summer Session program. Summer Session courses do not count as a term toward the eight-term maximum for undergraduate students. All other pre-college non-credit programs are not covered.

Tuition Benefits at Other Institutions

The benefit level for full-time undergraduate study at other accredited institutions will be awarded for tuition only, up to the Carnegie Mellon per term benefit amount. The per term benefit amount is announced by Carnegie Mellon annually.

Benefit Coverage

Tuition benefits cover:

• Credit-bearing courses only.
• Tuition only and are based on the actual tuition charged to the student.

Tuition benefits do not cover:

• Room and board, mandatory fees, lab fees, transportation costs or similar fees for credit-bearing courses.

Conditions and Limitations

The award of tuition benefits to an eligible staff member whose child attends Carnegie Mellon is contingent upon acceptance, enrollment and attendance of the dependent child in a course(s)/degree program at Carnegie Mellon. An application for tuition benefits is not an application for admission to any course or program nor does it constitute approval for any student to continue in any course or program. Each of these requirements is separate from and is additional to an application for tuition benefits.

The award of tuition benefits to an eligible staff member whose child attends another institution is contingent upon acceptance, enrollment and attendance of the dependent child in a full-time undergraduate (bachelor or associate) degree program, trade school certification program, or community college.

Tuition benefits are available for eight terms, whether provided for courses at Carnegie Mellon or at another institution. They need not be consecutive terms.

Summer study (whether full-time or part-time) at Carnegie Mellon or another institution will count as a term.

Part-time study during the academic year (permitted at Carnegie Mellon only) will also count as a term. If a student is attending Carnegie Mellon on a part-time basis, the staff member may elect to pay for the part-time study themselves rather than using tuition benefits, since the part-time study counts as a term and would be applied toward the eight-term limit.

Tuition benefits at other accredited institutions are limited to two children, even if one child did not exhaust their benefit entitlement. There are no limits on the number of children eligible for tuition benefits at Carnegie Mellon.

Full-time undergraduate students attending Carnegie Mellon are encouraged to apply for federal grant assistance through the Pennsylvania Higher Education Assistance Agency (PHEAA) by May 1 annually. If you are interested in being considered for any form of financial aid, please contact the HUB at 412-268-8186 for additional information.

All financial aid resources regardless of source(s), including undergraduate tuition benefits, cannot exceed the cost of attendance for the academic year. If tuition benefits result in a student receiving more assistance than the total budgeted cost of education, tuition benefits will be reduced by the amount of the excess.

State and Local Income Tax Implications

The tuition benefit paid to other institutions outside of Carnegie Mellon are subject to Pennsylvania State and local taxation. Taxes will be withheld from salary, not from the benefit, in the same quarter in which the benefit is paid.

How to Apply for Tuition Benefits

Staff members whose eligible dependent children are enrolling in courses at Carnegie Mellon or other accredited institutions should submit an application through Workday. To ensure timely processing, it is recommended that applications are submitted as soon as all required documentation is gathered.

Staff members will be notified of eligibility as soon as a determination is made. Students attending Carnegie Mellon will have tuition benefits awarded through The HUB. Students attending other institutions will have tuition benefits remitted directly to the institution. Since some institutions require payment of tuition and fees at the time of registration, parents should be prepared to pre-pay tuition and fees. If this occurs, parents should make arrangements to obtain reimbursement from the institution that the student attends.

Questions should be addressed to HR Services / 412-268-4600.