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Maricopa Steward

Important Changes to MCCCD Tuition Waiver Program

Tuition waivers have long been offered as a benefit for employees to enroll in credit hour courses that are offered within our own college system. The cost of waiver usage is funded by the District, with past fiscal year expenditures ranging from $2 - $3 million annually for the program. Several changes were made to the MCCCD Tuition Waiver program as a result of an internal audit conducted in 2009 that identified areas of improvement in the interest of public accountability, including on-going monitoring of waiver usage by employees and the dependents and spouses of employees for rates of non-completion and non-participation.

Non-Completion/Non-Participation

In order to reduce the costs associated with the non-completion of courses when a waiver has been repeatedly submitted for the same course or courses, the Office of Public Stewardship was assigned the task of routine monitoring. Non-completion (non-participation) is considered to be the assignment of a W, Y or Z grade. The audit found instances where employees, dependents and spouses of employees signed up for the same courses yet never complete or meet the attendance requirements. In these instances, the cost of tuition is still charged to the District and this type of activity is viewed as a waste of public resources. Now, reports are run each semester to show the number of W, Y and Z grades that a tuition waiver user has received for a particular course and the percentage of withdrawals vs. completions over that user’s entire MCCCD history since June 1, 2010. The June 1st date is significant, as a program change was enacted that limited the number of times a tuition waiver could be used for any single course where a W, Y or Z grade was previously issued. This limitation regarding repeats is stated on the current tuition waiver forms used by full time employees, their dependents and adjunct faculty. Now, after evaluating waiver activity for two full semesters (Summer 2010 and Fall 2010), enforcement of this limitation is taking place during the present Spring 2011 semester. Employees and dependents who were at or who exceeded the limit have been notified. Essentially, once an individual has already received two previous instances of non-completion/non-participation for the same course, that person is responsible for the cost of tuition upon the third enrollment. Failure to pay will result in debt that will create a hold on their student account. The party will not be able to register for any classes until the balance has been paid in full and, like any other student debt, uncollected debts will be sent to the State’s Debt Set Off program and to collection agencies, as applicable. Since monitoring occurs after enrollment it is important for all who use waivers to know the status of their academic progress, particularly for those courses where a tuition waiver has been submitted two or more times.

Waivers to be Funded at the In-County Credit Rate

As part of the continuous review of costs to administer the tuition waiver program, effective July, 1 2011, tuition waivers will cover the in-county tuition credit hour cost and the student activities fee (for a total of $76 per credit hour). Out-of-state and out-of-county surcharges and fees will no longer be waived. For those who use tuition waivers and have in-county residency status, this limitation will not impact the tuition waiver. Others who have out-of-state or out-of-county residency status who are otherwise eligible to use the waiver will be funded at the in-county rate of $76 per credit hour. All out-of-county and out-of-state surcharges and fees will be the responsibility of the tuition waiver user. This includes enrollment for courses that begin during the Summer II and Fall 2011 semesters. NOTE: An out-of-county employee residing in a county where we have established a reciprocal agreement allowing students to be charged at the in-county rate will still be able to take courses at the in-county rate. MCCCD has established reciprocal agreements with every county in Arizona except Apache and Greenlee. However, students living in those counties may present an Out of County Residence Affidavit to avoid the out-of-county surcharge.

Questions regarding tuition waiver use can be directed to the Manager of the Office of Public Stewardship, (480) 731-8880 or the Senior Manager of Human Resources, (480) 731-8469. The most current tuition waiver forms can be found at www.maricopa.edu/publicstewardship/resources/tw.php.

*Other includes Salt River Pima-Maricopa Indian Community, Music Major Fee, Qualified Non-Employees, FT Teacher/FT Classroom Aide, Arizona-Sonora Exchange exceptions
**Summer II and Fall 2010 totals only

Article revised July 6, 2011

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