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Maricopa Steward

Tuition Waiver Handbook

The Tuition Waiver Handbook is a resource manual to address issues related to the treatment of tuition waivers and other instances (affidavits and exemptions). The handbook is the standard used when questions arise regarding eligiblity, process and reporting. The 2010 version includes new language on withdrawal limits (eligible parties can withdraw from the same course only two times), clarification on adjunct faculty eligilibity (first class date must be on or after the first assignment date) and updated tuition waiver forms. Some of the changes were a result of an Internal Audit and Management Advisory Services (IAMAS) audit from fall 2008 which recommended the Manager of the Office of Public Stewardship and Senior Manager of Human Resources:

• Work with the college cashier officers to ensure that the approval, accounting/reconciling and asset receipt/custody functions within their cashier offices are separated to the extent possible and develop uniform operating procedures for the processing of tuition waivers.
• Continue monitoring processes; seek assistance from the SIS Project Oversight Group (POG) to develop an automated process that is able to detect waived tuition greater than the allowed six credit hours for adjunct faculty taking courses at more than one college; work with the colleges to implement a formal process for recovering any waived tuition that is disallowed; revise the Adjunct Faculty Tuition Waiver Request Form to include the criterion stated in the Handbook regarding first teaching assignment date and class start dates; determine whether District Employee Services should authorize waived tuition of qualifying employees on intermittent leave; and expand the Handbook to include the more definitive language in the Blue Book for courses taken during an employee’s working hours of accountability.
• Propose the monitoring of withdrawals or a credit hour limit for employee, spouse or dependent waivers to help reduce the cost of withdrawals to the District.

An additional recommendation was made to the Business Intelligence and Reporting team to determine whether the BOEXI reports used for monitoring of tuition waivers and enrollment irregularities are complete and implement processes to ensure that all BOEXI reports are updated to include all transaction codes, as applicable.

There is a hard cost to the institution ($2.7 million in 2009) for the courses waived each year. The costs are roughly equal between employees, dependents and others (which includes Salt River Pima-Maricopa Indian Community, Music Major Fee, Dependents of Slain Peace Officer, and Arizona National Guard waivers; as well as F-T Teacher/F-T Classroom Aide and Arizona-Sonora Exchange Program exemptions).

Changes to the 2010 handbook include:

• Revised Qualified Non-Employee Tution Waiver eligibility to include Armed Forces or Former Armed Forces members who received a Purple Heart citation with a disability status greater than 50% who, at the time of injury, resided or were stationed in Arizona
• Added limitation regarding number of allowed withdrawals from the same course (two) and revised “Course Withdrawal” to include language regarding non-participation, non-attendance, and non-completion (i.e., “Z” grades)
• Revised chart to remove “Employees participating in the District’s retirement programs;” program discontinued July 1, 2010
• Revised charts to include Purple Heart information as listed in bullet one
• Revised Tuition Waivers as follows:
  1. Include information regarding non-participation, non-attendance, and non-completion (i.e., “Z” grades)
  2. Include information on Purple Heart recepients as noted in bullet one
  3. Removed “Early/Active Retiree” from Employee Tuition Waiver and all notes related to “Early/Active Retiree” status
• Revised Non-Employee Waiver Process to include Arizona Department of Veterans Affairs as agency of notice
• Defined “Dependent Spouse” and “Dependent Child” in detail
• Modified waiver process and clarified reimbursement process
• Clarified eligibility in “Type of Participant” and “Category/Group” to include Arizona National Guard Member Purple Heart Recipients
• Corrected Item Types for Skill Center Employees
• Clarified eligibility for Adjunct faculty tuition waivers regarding first teaching assignment and class start date
• Updated cashier’s procedure for verifying Tuition Waivers
• Updated all tuition waiver request forms
• Added note with location of Non-Employee Tuition Waiver Qualified Participant List
• Changed BOEXI Report numbering convention to match reorganization per IT
  • MCCD_SF_1810 Employee Enrollment & Tuition Waivers (Formerly MCCD_SR_3070)
  • MCCD_SF_1820 Dependent Enrollments & Tuition Waivers (Formerly MCCD_SR_3071)
  • MCCD_SF_1830 Other Tuition Waivers (Formerly MCCD_SR_3072)
  • MCCD_SF_1840 Part-Time Faculty Enrollments & Tuition Waivers (Formerly MCCD_SR_3073)
• Clarified instructions for monitoring enrollment irregularities (MCCD_SF_1810 and MCCD_SF_1840), inlcuding late-start and/or short-term classes

Tuition waiver forms can be found online via the Office of Public Stewardship web. Refer to this web site for the most current version of the waiver forms. Older forms are not valid because they do not contain the most current requirements and will not be processed.

Questions regarding tution waivers can be directed to the Senior Manager of Human Resources (480-731-8469) or the Manager of the Office of Public Stewardship (480-731-8880).

Maricopa Steward, Fall 2010

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