Faculty Handbook 2017-2018

Tuition Exchange Policies

The College provides Tuition Remission/Exchange as an educational benefit for employees and their dependents as recognition of its commitment to higher education. Benefits are provided at the discretion of the College and are subject to amendment or termination.

Initial Employee Eligibility Criteria

For the purposes of the Tuition Remission/Exchange Program, initial eligibility is determined as follows: any active employee with a status of full-time or limited full-time, or an hourly employee who worked a minimum of 1,400 hours in the preceding year. Limited part-time and temporary/seasonal employees are not eligible for tuition remission.


Remission Eligibility

Employees who meet the initial employee eligibility criteria above qualify for remission according to the following:

  • One course per semester for academic credit for eligible employees who have been employed for at least three months
  • Supervisor permission received and arrangements for a satisfactory alternate work schedule established to ensure a full eight-hour work day.
  • Office of Academic Affairs permission granted to ensure that class participation will not create a class space issue and that necessary prerequisites have been satisfied.
  • Registration process completed by employee.

Initial Dependent Eligibility Criteria

Employee's dependents are eligible for tuition remission according to the following schedule.

  • Employed by College for less than two years, eligible dependents will receive a waiver of one-fourth of tuition.
  • Employed by College for at least two years but less than five years, eligible dependents will receive a waiver of one-half of tuition.
  • Employed by College for five years or longer, eligible dependents will receive a waiver of full tuition 

Prior service credit awarded for:

  •    Employment at other institutions of higher education immediately prior to employment at Hendrix College; OR
  •    Equivalent professional experience

The applicability of equivalent professional experience will be determined by the President of the College on a case-by-case basis. The prior service credit awarded can be used to satisfy the eligibility requirements.

The appropriate waiver will be applied the semester immediately following the appropriate anniversary date.  Example: A new employee is hired on May 2, 2004.  On January 18, 2009, the employee’s son has met all of the admission requirements, and is approved for tuition waiver.  For the first semester, one-half of the tuition would be waived. The full tuition waiver will begin with the fall semester in August 2009.

Any exceptions to this policy must be approved by the President (or the Board of Trustees in the case of the President).

Eligible dependents will be defined as:

  • Spouse/Domestic Partner: A person currently legally married to an eligible employee or an eligible employee’s domestic partner who has been certified by the Human Resources Director.
  • Children: A child age 24 or under who is dependent on the eligible employee for the majority of his/her support. To be considered dependent, the child must be a son or daughter by birth, current marriage, or adoption, or have the eligible employee as their legal guardian.  If the child is married, the spouse is not eligible to receive the tuition remission benefit.

Spouses and dependents must meet the admission requirements of Hendrix College and must maintain the continuing academic standards required of all students at the College.

High school students wishing to take one or two courses, and who are admitted to the College as a special student, will be eligible for tuition remission.



Application Procedure

Tuition Remission Applications are available at the Office of Human Resources. ach person must complete a Tuition Remission Application form per academic year (if enrollment plans are known) or per semester.  Tuition Remission Application forms must be completed and submitted by the following deadline(s):

  • July 1 for fall and spring semesters. December 1 for spring semester only.
  • Part-time students - 30 days prior to the beginning of each semester.

All parents of unmarried dependent children applying for tuition remission, and any employees or spouses who plan to enroll, are encouraged to file a Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA) with Federal Student Aid Programs. If more than one student from a family is applying for tuition remission, then a separate FAFSA should be filed.



Ongoing Eligibility Criteria

Academic

Students must attain at least a 2.0 cumulative grade point average after the equivalent of four semesters of full-time course work at Hendrix College. Those not meeting this criteria will lose their tuition remission for at least the next two semesters, and until they achieve a 2.0 cumulative grade point average.

Employment

If an employee resigns, retires, or is terminated during the course of a semester, the employee, the employee’s spouse and dependent children will receive tuition remission on a pro rata basis only for the courses in which they are currently enrolled, OR may have original scholarship if student was eligible as an entering freshman.  For example: If the employee leaves after ten weeks of a fifteen-week semester, two-thirds tuition remission would be granted. Upon completion of those courses, they will lose eligibility for tuition remission.

Marital

If an employee is divorced during the course of a semester, the employee’s spouse will continue to receive tuition remission only for the courses in which he/she is currently enrolled. Upon completion of those courses, the former spouse will lose eligibility for tuition remission.

Dependent Child’s Age

Dependent children who reach the age of 25 during the course of a semester will continue to receive tuition remission only for the courses in which they are currently enrolled. Upon completion of those courses, they will lose eligibility for tuition remission.

Death and Disability

Eligible dependents will continue to receive tuition remission on the following basis:

  • Employed by College for less than two years, eligible dependents will receive a waiver of one-fourth of tuition.
  • Employed by College for at least two years but less than five years, eligible dependents will receive a waiver of one-half of tuition.
  • Employed by College for five years or longer, eligible dependents will receive a waiver of full tuition.

The foregoing applied only to courses taken at Hendrix College.

Retirement

Eligible dependents will continue to receive tuition remission on the following basis:

  • If the employee has served the College for a minimum of 15 years, those eligible will receive full tuition remission.
  • If the employee has served the College for at least 10 years and less than 15 years, tuition remission will be pro-rated according to the number of years of service.  If a person has begun a new year of employment, s/he will be given credit for a full year of service.  For example: Ten years, two months of service equals 11 years = 73.3% remission.
  • Tuition remission (whether full or pro-rated) will only be granted to those eligible dependents who are eligible at the time of retirement.

The foregoing applies only to courses taken at Hendrix College.


Limits and Exclusions

Tuition Remission applies only to the College’s tuition charge. Fees and any other charges are specifically excluded. Tuition remission applies only to courses taken for academic credit. The limit of a recipient’s tuition remission is determined as follows:

A single recipient’s full tuition remission is limited to 8 semesters or 36 credits, whichever is longer.

Graduate courses are covered by this policy; however, if a student has already received 8 semesters or 36 credits of tuition remission but is still eligible under the preceding criteria, he/she will be entitled to one-half tuition remission.

Determination of Tuition Charges for Eligible Dependents

The following process will be used to determine the amount of tuition remission for which a student is eligible.

  1. Begin with the full tuition amount and subtract the appropriate amount based on whether the eligible dependent is qualified for full, half, or quarter tuition remission.
  2. Subtract the total of all external forms of financial aid which a student receives from the previous amount. The only exception to this will be if an award had been specifically designated by the awarding body to be used for a charge other than tuition. Examples of external forms of financial aid include, but are not limited to 1) Pell Grants; 2) National Merit Scholarships; and 3) State of Arkansas Scholarships.
  3. With the exception of certain awards, no Hendrix funded sources of aid can be applied for those receiving tuition remission awards. Questions about individual cases should be directed to the Director of Financial Aid.

The amount of tuition charged the dependent will be the amount determined from the preceding steps. If this calculation produces a negative number, then the amount of tuition charged will be $0.
Note that tuition remission will not be used to give a student aid in excess of the total tuition bill, unless the student is eligible to receive federally-based grants and assistance. Tuition remission students are eligible to apply for campus employment and loans.

Tuition Exchange Program and Associated Colleges of the South (ACS)

Hendrix College is a member of Tuition Exchange, Inc.  Through that program, members of the immediate families (children and spouses) of full-time Hendrix College employees may be eligible for tuition exchange “scholarships” at other member institutions. The number of a Hendrix employee’s dependents who may be placed in other institutions through this program is contingent on the number of dependents from other member institutions who elect to attend Hendrix.  Therefore, there can be no guarantee that the College will be in a position to certify an employee’s dependents for Tuition Exchange “scholarships” in any given year.

Employees wishing to have their dependents certified for placement in the tuition exchange program should apply to the Provost no later than January 30th in the academic year preceding the desired placement.  In the event the number of applications is greater than the number of certifications the College is authorized to make in a given year, selection will be made on the basis of the seniority of the employee whose dependents’ applications are in question. In case of equivalent seniority, selection will be made through a random process.

The eligibility of faculty and staff member dependents in this program is parallel to the schedule of the Hendrix tuition waiver for the same group:

  • If the employee has been employed by the College for less than 2 years, family members are eligible for certification for two semesters in the TE program.
  • If the employee has been employed by the College for at least two years but less than five years, family members are eligible for certification for four semesters in the TE program.
  • If the employee has been employed by the College for five years or longer, family members are eligible for eight semesters certification in the TE Program.

After an employee is certified by the Provost, the Office of Student Financial Assistance will be notified.  All further contact of the student with TE will be conducted through that office.  Student Financial Assistance conducts the reporting of the Hendrix participation to the TE program.

Certification of a Hendrix employee for participation in the TE program does not guarantee admission in the host college or university.  Normal admission standards in the other institution must be met.  A modest placement fee is payable by the dependent being placed at the time of his or her placement.

At some participating institutions, the TE “scholarships” may not cover tuition costs. In such cases, the student will be responsible for any differences.

ccess to this program by dependents of employee’s who have died, retired, or become disabled is governed by the policy applicable to the Hendrix College Tuition Waiver program.