Tuition Assistance Policy

Process Owner

Senior Executive of Corporate Human Resources

Purpose

This document describes GovC’s tuition reimbursement guidelines for employees who seek to further their technical and professional knowledge, and enhance their contribution to the Company.

Definitions

Tuition Reimbursement – Money received after the successful completion of a class.

Tuition Advance – Money received before the start of a class or coursework. Employee must prove financial hardship.

Policy

It is GovC’s policy to provide funds for eligible full-time employees to cover the cost of programs offered by accredited colleges or universities that provide college credits, grades, or certification, and any classes/seminars that apply towards a certification or re-certification.

Requirements

To be eligible for tuition reimbursement, all courses must be approved in writing by the supervisor before class registration. All proposed courses to be covered by tuition reimbursement must be related to the work the employee regularly performs or related to job advancement. All courses must be approved in writing by the supervisor before class registration. Exceptions to this policy must be justified in writing.

For a degree program, the employee must demonstrate that:

a. The college or university is accredited.

b. The proposed curriculum is related either to the employee’s current job or corresponds to a reasonable internal career path for the employee.

Seminars, conferences, and symposia attended by GovC employees to enhance technical and professional knowledge may be reimbursed outside the scope of the tuition reimbursement program, subject to management approval.

All courses to be reimbursed must have a minimum pass rating of C. Maximum reimbursement for a calendar year is $5000.

The employee must be actively employed full time by GovC at the time the course work is completed.

After the course is completed, official documentation for the course(s) cost and final grade(s) received must be submitted to determine final eligibility.

Tuition Advance

Tuition Advances shall only be made on an exceptional basis, after demonstration of economic hardship.

When a Tuition Advance is made, a repayment schedule should be established whereby the employee commits to repay the Tuition Advance, through payroll deduction.

Tuition Advance checks shall be made payable to the college or university providing the coursework.

Upon receipt of satisfactory course completion and grades (see Section 10 above); the payroll deduction will be eliminated and all repayments by the employee should be refunded, subject to the $5,250 limit.

Employee Repayment Liability

1. If the employee voluntarily terminates employment or is terminated for cause and the employee received tuition reimbursement from GovC in the twelve (12) month period leading up to their termination date, the employee must repay the Company for all tuition reimbursement received in the twelve12 month period leading up to their termination date. 2. The Company will deduct the amount from any monies owed the employee on the date of termination. In the event that the amount of tuition owed to the Company exceeds the amount legally available to deduct, the employee will become obliged to enter into a payment plan with the Company to satisfy the excess debt. 3. Any employee who qualifies for a Tuition Advance must provide the Company with official documentation for the course(s) cost and final grade(s) received. If the company does not receive adequate documentation of satisfactory grades within ninety (90) days of coursework completion, the employee must make immediate arrangements to repay the Tuition Advance.

Responsibilities

Human Resources shall administer the tuition assistance program.