Tuition assistance is among the most generous benefits the University offers.
This benefit is available to faculty and staff, their spouses or domestic partners and their dependent children. Except as noted below, benefits apply only to courses offered by Washington University.
Those who wish to enroll in programs or courses must establish eligibility for tuition benefits through the Danforth Campus Benefits Office.
They also must comply with normal admissions procedures and requirements. Information about requirement and benefit details is available from the Benefits Office.
“In our effort to attract and retain quality faculty and staff, the WU tuition assistance benefit is the most competitive perk in our total benefits program,” said Tom Lauman, director of benefits. “It ranks at the very top as compared to major St. Louis corporations and ranks as above average compared to our peer universities. These benefits provide our employees with an opportunity for personal development and our dependent children with a greater opportunity to receive a college education.”
Details of the program are:
Employee tuition assistance: Full-time faculty and staff may enroll in undergraduate or graduate courses offered through WUSTL evening programs. Full-time employees who regularly work evening or night shifts may (with verification of that schedule) enroll in courses offered through WUSTL day programs. To be eligible, employees must complete one year of continuous full-time service.
Full-time employees are entitled to fee remission for up to seven credit hours of course work per semester and must achieve a passing grade. Fee remission for eligible undergraduate courses is 100 percent; fee remission for eligible graduate courses is 50 percent.
Spouse/domestic partner tuition assistance: Spouses or domestic partners of full-time WUSTL faculty and staff who have completed one year of continuous full-time service are entitled to fee remission of 50 percent for undergraduate courses offered through WUSTL evening programs.
Spouses/domestic partners of full-time WUSTL faculty and staff who have completed five years of continuous full-time service also are entitled to fee remission of 50 percent for WUSTL undergraduate day programs. Under certain circumstances, full-time service at other accredited institutions of higher education may count toward this eligibility requirement.
Dependent-child tuition assistance: The University offers education benefits to the financially dependent children of full- and part-time faculty and staff. Both the employee and the dependent student must meet eligibility requirements.
The percentage of tuition remission depends on the school the child attends and the employment status and service history of the employee. Under certain circumstances, full-time service at other accredited institutions of higher education may count toward the eligibility requirement.
For eligible children of full-time faculty and staff who have completed five years of continuous full-time service or the equivalent, the University pays 100 percent of tuition and mandatory academic fees in any WUSTL undergraduate program and tuition and mandatory academic fees at another accredited undergraduate institution not to exceed 50 percent of the then-current WUSTL undergraduate tuition.
For eligible children of part-time faculty and staff who have completed the equivalent of seven years of continuous full-time service, the University pays 50 percent of tuition and mandatory academic fees in any WUSTL undergraduate program and tuition and mandatory academic fees at another accredited undergraduate institution not to exceed 25 percent of the then-current WUSTL undergraduate tuition.
To seek these tuition benefits, employees must complete a Request for Tuition Assistance form and provide specific documentation, such as birth certificate, marriage certificate, domestic partner affidavit and/or federal income tax return. Obtaining and retaining dependent tuition benefits requires compliance with responsibilities and procedures described in the plan document at hr.wustl.edu.
Full- and part-time benefits-eligible faculty and staff as of July 1, 2006, receive the dependent-child tuition benefits outlined above.
Full- and part-time faculty and staff hired after that date receive a different schedule of dependent-child tuition benefits described at hr.wustl.edu.