EWU 405-01_DependentTuitionWaiver_FirstRead
This is a new policy detailing the requirements and benefits provided under a new tuition waiver program available for the dependent children and spouses of eligible EWU employees.
25 thoughts on “EWU Policy 405-01: Dependent Children & Spouses Tuition Waiver (Draft)”
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Has there been any consideration of faculty with emeritus status?
Is the tuition waived (free) with the exception of the fees as listed or is it reduced?
The waiver is 50% of the operating fee portion of tuition.
No. At this time, the waiver will be limited to current, permanent, full-time employees.
I really wish it was not limited to state-funded courses only. Allowing Dependents and Spouses to be able to also do self-support would help crate more people available to our workforce. I am also curious what it means by the spouse… (d) Does not provide more than 50% of their own
support during the calendar year; If you have a family and work full time for example, how is this decided?
As a full time employee of 20+ years, my dependents were not able to benefit from this proposed tuition waiver. Is there a possibility of perhaps a percentage of tuition waived for my grandchild?
If you have a dependent or spouse that is eligible for WUE, would they then qualify for the 50 percent off waiver after the WUE? Also if they qualified for scholarships, would these then be deducted from the remaining 50 percent?
Thank you for your input. With respect to your question about spouses, the 50% language only applies to dependent children. It does not apply to spouses. To qualify as a spouse, the person must be lawfully married to an eligible EWU employee.
At this point, EWU is planning on only offering the waiver to dependent children and spouses. In the future, EWU may consider expanding eligibility to different groups of people.
The total amount of the waiver available under the policy is 50% of the operating portion of tuition, even if a person has another tuition waiver. If part of the operating fee is waived under WUE, that may diminish and/or subsume the 50% offered under this policy. You should check with the Office for Financial Aid and Scholarships to confirm this based on the individual situation. With respect to scholarships, if your student has a private scholarship or an EWU scholarship (not a waiver), that should not impact the amount waived under this policy. However, again, please make sure you confirm this with Financial Aid based on your individual circumstances.
It is puzzling why this policy applies to only one dependent at a time, especially when EWU’s enrollment is declining. It seems that 50% tuition paid by a student is better than no tuition — which seems a likely outcome with this policy, as some EWU dependents would feel less welcome at Eastern than their sibling/other family member who enjoys the tuition reduction.
I agree with Kristin. I don’t like the “one at a time” verbiage. Most folks would have children in a smaller age span than 4 years apart, and so this makes it so that only one child would benefit but not the other. So the other has to go into debt or take out loans?
I have a parenting plan that allows me to claim my child as a dependent with the IRS every other year, although she does not live with me. Would she be eligible in this instance?
We are using the IRS’ definition of a dependent for this tuition waiver. The Office of Financial Aid and Scholarships will be putting together the process and documentation required to establish a child as a dependent. This will likely include submitting documentation that a child has been claimed as a dependent on your taxes. As you are able to claim the child as a dependent for IRS purposes, this will likely suffice for the year in which you are able to claim the dependency status. However, as this process is still in development, please make sure you check with Financial Aid directly as the process may change or they may be able to provide you with a more specific answer based on your individual circumstances than I am able to provide to an anonymous post.
My husband and I both started this summer/fall at EWU (staff and faculty) and have a son that would transfer here next fall if the eligibility requirements were changed from 2 years to one year of continual employment. Two years seems like a lot when many other schools only require one year (or less) of continual work to qualify for a dependent tuition waiver. Lowering the requirement could increase the amount of students and help with retention of staff and faculty.
Would there be additional consideration of upping the qualifying age to under age 25 0r 26 at the end of the calendar year. Many young people are still living at home with their parents and going to college as rent costs are prohibitive for them to live on their own. And many young people are still on their parents medical coverage until age 26 so to increase the age would increase opportunities for employees children to attend college and would also help boost enrollment numbers. Limiting the age to under 24 at the end of the calendar year eliminates a number of possible students attending Eastern. Also, having a tuition waiver for at least 50% would help increase the number of college students and boost enrollment. And would also help with retention with workers in lower paying fields with typically low retention rates. Which often have a more diverse pool of applicants from a lower socioeconomic background.
The definition of a dependent is taken from the Internal Revenue Code. In order for this to remain a non-taxable benefit for EWU employees, we must use the Internal Revenue Services’ definition of a dependent. Thus, we will not be changing the age of qualifying dependents.
Will there be controls put in place to prevent students under this waiver from registering in self-support courses?
They would not be prevented from registering for self-support courses, but the waiver would not apply to those courses.
Given the high turnover rates and number of new faculty and staff on campus, allowing dependent children and spouses of employees who have been at EWU continuously for at least one year or less make most sense. The expenses associated with hiring/training faculty and staff in the first year are high. If EWU was able to offer this benefit to faculty and staff sooner we may be able to increase retention. Additionally, when this was announced by the President of EWU as a tuition waiver, there was no mention of it being a partial waiver at 50%. Please consider changing the wording to include partial in the policy name.
If a student meets the qualifications for the waiver by the end of 2024(assuming the policy takes effect January 1st 2024) and is under age 24 and would be attending in the Fall of 2024. Would they still be eligible for the waiver once they turn 24 and can they still attend? If the student’s parent(s) is still a full-time EWU employee? This is if they are working towards a degree? Can they complete their degree? And if yes can they also attend just to take classes full-time or part-time or is it restricted for those students pursuing a degree?
If this policy is approved and if the employees dependent child is eligible to attend EWU and use the tuition waiver can they take these classes online or does it have to be in person classes?
The waiver only applies to state supported courses. Most of EWU’s online courses are self-supported courses, so the waiver would not apply. However, there are some variations from this general rule for particular programs. I would recommend reaching out to the department offering an online course to confirm whether or not the course is state support or self-support.
The waiver will be implemented in fall term 2024. The student must continue to meet the definition of a “dependent child” to continue qualifying for the waiver. If a student is 23 during fall term and otherwise meets the requirements, they would qualify for the tuition waiver for fall term. They would not, however, qualify for the tuition waiver for subsequent terms because they would not meet the criteria of being “a full-time student under the age of 24 at the end of the calendar year.” They can still attend (and are encouraged to continue attending and graduate), but would not qualify for the waiver.
In terms of a degree, the waiver is for regularly admitted students. The student will need to apply for admission to EWU and meet EWU’s standards for undergraduate students.
The policy comment period closed on November 27th. We are no longer accepting public comments. A final version will be presented to the Board of Trustees for approval on December 8th.