After one year of service, full-time employees who meet admission requirements may, with the approval of their supervisor and the University Provost enroll in any graduate program of the University, except the MA in Writing, MFA in Writing, and PsyD Programs, and receive a 100% tuition waiver.  The amount of the tuition waiver is determined after all other forms of direct financial aid are applied to the employee’s account. The tuition waiver will be the net amount of tuition and course fee costs not covered by other direct aid. The tuition waivers will be applied after drop/add week in sessions 3, 6 and 7. There is no limitation on the number of credit hours to which the waiver will apply.  Spouses and children of full-time employees are not eligible for a tuition waiver in graduate programs.  The employee’s anniversary date must be achieved prior to the class start date for the benefit to apply.

Tuition Remission at the graduate level is taxable to the employee. At the time the value of the remission is recorded in payroll the related tax is withheld. Based on the 2009 IRS Publication 970 graduate students receiving tuition remission will have an exclusion of $5,250 annually. Tax will be withheld from employees beginning with $5,251 annually. IRS exclusion amount subject to change. Spalding will always withhold taxes using the most current IRS tax guidelines, even if this policy manual shows a different amount.

If the graduate classes are a condition of employment or  maintain or improve skills for the current position they may be excluded from your gross income under section 162 of the Internal Revenue Code.  The Tuition Remission Application-Job Related Graduate Form must be completed.  This form is available on the Human Resource portal and in the Human Resources office.

Effective January 1, 2018, up to two (2) Spalding University employees will be permitted to enroll in each graduate program per academic year.  In order to be considered for enrollment, employees will be required to apply to the program.  Upon acceptance into the program, the Provost will review the application and select who will be admitted.  The criteria for selection will be twofold: (1) applicability of the graduate program to current job duties; and (2) years of service to Spalding University.  The University Provost reserves the right to admit employees in excess of two in any graduate program at his/her discretion. If an employee resigns or is terminated while receiving tuition remission, the employee will be required to remit the cost of the graduate program to the University, and the employee will have the option to continue in the graduate program at his or her own expense. 

Upon receipt of a Spalding master or doctoral degree, the employee will be required to remain employed at Spalding for a number of years equivalent to the years of the graduate program.  For example, if the program were a two year program, the employee will be required to continue employment at Spalding for two years following the receipt of his/her degree.  If the employee resigns his/her employment during this period of time, the employee will be required to remit the cost of the graduate program to the University on a pro-rated basis.