UVA Education Benefits Program

The benefit maximum is based on the calendar year in which the reimbursement is made, regardless of when it is submitted and for what term it is submitted.

• It is important to get in year-end grades as soon as possible to ensure all approvals, revisions, and corrections can be done in timely manner, as holidays can affect reimbursement timing. Documentation does not have to be an official transcript.
• It is important to ensure the request is correct and all necessary documentation is attached. Please make sure you do not include non-education related fees (i.e., student activity fees, technology fees, Institutional fees, books etc.,). Your request will be sent back for revision if you do and will need to go through your manager again for approval before it is sent back to HR. Please refer to HR Policy 301 for eligible costs.
• Requests go to your manager first for approval.

Plan early for unforeseen issues. Here are two end of year examples:

If banks are closed for winter holidays when your request is approved, your reimbursement could fall into the next year, meaning your 2023 allotment would be used.

If designated approvers are on vacation, notify UVA HR with the Report ID to get requests re-routed to another designated approver.

We are unable to change the year allotment that the money comes from - the year you receive reimbursement is the year that the reimbursement is applied.

Once UVA HR approves the request, it takes two business days for funds to be deposited directly into your account. If the deposit falls on a bank holiday, it will push the deposit back until the next business day.

Please be proactive in submitting tuition assistance requests - there are several factors that could potentially delay your request getting approved in time to be counted in 2022. If your reimbursements are not approved by HR by December 20, 2022, there is no guarantee that they will be reimbursed in calendar year 2022.

To be eligible for education benefits, you must:

• Be a full-time or part-time (20+ hours) benefits-eligible employee (Classified Staff, University Staff, Faculty, and Professional Research Staff).
• Have had one year of service in a benefits-eligible position at UVA by the start date of the class, with the intent to remain on the active payroll during the entire term of the class. Eligible service time for this benefit does not include employment at previous state agencies, temp, or wage employment.

Temporary, wage, and other non-benefitted employees are ineligible for the Education Benefit.

If attending a conference or event, you must receive CEUs, certification credits, or the conference must be directly related to your current position at UVA.

Course/Conference Eligibility

A course/conference is eligible if it meets at least one of the following criteria:

• Enrollment fees for a conference that is directly related to your position at UVA (Professional Development)
• Courses which earn CEUs, or are job-related (Professional Development)
• For-credit courses, working towards a degree or certificate program at an accredited institution (Tuition)

Non-eligible programs or expenses include:

• Subscriptions to learning services/sites (exceptions: 1-sites that earn CEU’s and/or credit toward professional certifications, 2- CBT Nuggets, Code Academy, and Pluralsight for ITS employees)
• Books
• Certification exams (exception - initial exam for a job-related professional certification)
• Course materials
• Food
• Games
• Hobbies
• Lodging
• Management/leadership development programs
• Personal enrichment courses
• Private consultant refresher courses to take examinations
• Seminars
• Special examinations for admission to degree programs
• Sports
• Travel
• Workshop
• Courses related to mindfulness, yoga, and other similar-related topics could be supported by Hoos Well or other vendors

To be eligible for education benefits, you must be a full or part-time employee (20+ hours/week), flex staff, or management team member who has completed 6 consecutive months of employment with the Medical Center or Academic Division (waived for RN Clinician I) prior to the beginning of your course. You must be in good standing at the time the educational assistance request is submitted.

Your professional certification must be of value/benefit to the Medical Center, as determined by your department manager. A third party, standard-setting organization that has an assessment process with on-going requirements to maintain certification must confirm your mastery or competency awarded.

Unit-based and Medical Center Pool team members are not eligible.

Course Eligibility

A course is eligible if it meets at least one of the following criteria:

• Academic credit course offered by an accredited school leading to an Associate's, Bachelor's, Master's, or Doctoral degree
• Review course for a professional certification approved by the team member's department
• English as a Second Language (ESL), literacy and related classes
• Lean and related classes
• Eligible courses taken for a grade or credit must be completed with a grade of C- or better for undergraduate courses or a B- or better for graduate courses. Documentation of "pass" is required for non-graded courses.

Non-eligible programs or expenses include:

• Activity fees
• Book fees
• Expenses paid by other sources (e.g. scholarships, grants)

The program offers two options - Tuition Benefit or Professional Development Benefit, described below. 

Beginning July, 2021: A maximum of $5,250 is available for use between the two benefits per calendar year.

Tuition Benefit

The Tuition Benefit is applied to for-credit coursework toward a degree or academic certificate program. Coursework must be completed at an accredited educational provider (see "How To Apply" section below for list of accredited schools). Tuition is calculated using in-state tuition rates (where applicable), regardless of your residency status, and is based on the current tuition rate at the time of your request.

Up to the full $5,250 may be used for tuition toward a degree seeking program.

Professional Development Benefit

The Professional Development Benefit is available for use on job or career-growth offerings relevant to your current job. The offerings must be provided or sponsored by a recognized provider of professional development experiences.

Up to $2,000 may be used for professional development, including classes, certification training, and conferences. This leaves $3,250 to be used toward the Tuition Benefit if you also choose to pursue a degree or certificate program.

Departments may choose to offer additional educational benefits through departmental funding. With approval, you would submit the School/Unit/Department funding request and provide both the PTAO of the School/Unit/Department and your supervisor's computing ID.

Requests can only be approved within a quarter of the start date (ex: January requests can cover course start dates from Oct of the previous year to April of the current year).

1. Itemized invoice and proof of payment required
2. Proof of passing grade required within 30 days of completion
3. Proof of certificate required within 30 days of completion
4. Proof of attendance required within 30 days of completion
5. Proof of completion required within 30 days of completion
6. Written statement explaining job relation required

Course Benefit

• Team Members receive up to $2,000 per calendar year for eligible courses
• Team Members in "hard to fill" positions (this list will download to your device when clicked on), or those pursuing degree requirements for one of these positions, may receive up to $5,250 per year for eligible courses
• Educational Assistance for eligible courses applies to tuition, registration fees, exam fees, and laboratory fees.

Certification Benefit

• Benefits are also available for approved professional certification expenses, for up to $375 per year beyond the $2,000 or $5,250 course benefit. Benefits over the $5,250 threshold will be subject to taxation.

Benefit Payment

• Educational assistance will be provided as a reimbursement after successful completion of the course or professional certification. There is an exception for team members with 2+ years of continuous employment and an annualized salary of $50,000 or less, RN Clin 1s, or if you are employed 6 months, attending UVA. If you fall into one of these categories, then you are eligible for Advance Tuition for Eligible Courses (this is for courses only, not certifications).
• Non-education related fees (e.g. student activity fees), fees that support programs outside of the classroom, and expenditures for books are not eligible. 
• Team Members may also receive professional development funding from their department for non-credit courses or professional conference expenses that are not covered under the Educational Assistance Policy. 

Professional development activities consisting of other educational activities or programs not resulting in academic credit or certification, such as conferences, certificate programs, professional association programs, training programs, and non-credit continuing education programs are not covered under this policy, but may be funded by your unit or department.

It is the policy of the UVA Physicians Group (“UPG”) to encourage employees to become more proficient in their occupation and professions by advancing their education in areas that have a vocational relationship to their current or future roles at UPG.
 
To access UPG’s Continuing Education Policy, and reimbursement information, please visit Continuing Education and Training v.1 (policytech.com).  You must be on a UPG issued computer to access.

To apply for the benefit, submit an Employee Request in Workday. Use the Request Education Benefits Job Aid for detailed instructions.

To check if an educational institution is accredited, visit the U.S. Department of Education’s list of accredited schools.

For information about possible fee waivers for employees who take classes at UVA, go to Financial Services Fee Waiver for Employees at Student Financial Services (determination of possible fee waiver is made by SFS).

IMPORTANT

The benefit maximum will be based on the calendar year in which the payment is made.

In order to request Educational Assistance you will need to start by enrolling in the Educational Assistance CBL in Workday Learning. In order to do this, search for "Educational Assistance" in the Learning Opportunities tab. The CBL includes a FAQ and Job Aid that will help you navigate through the system and ensure that your request meets policy requirements.

Once the CBL is complete, you will need to submit a request via AMP (Access management Platform) to request access to the PeopleSoft Financials system by going to this link.

When you access the site, you will need to login with your user ID and network password.  You will then click the request option on the top of the page. 

Click “Self” under Select User, in the Request field, the system should be “Peoplesoft Travel and Expenses”, in the Role field, confirm the job role you need to request access to, which would be “Employee Expenses”. Once you click Submit Requests, you should be prompted to sign the User agreement.  Once you check the box, click Agree and Submit. You should then see a green check box next to your user name, which signifies the request has been submitted successfully.

Once the AMP is complete, 3 separate emails are sent:

1. To the Employee reminding them to sign the user agreement (If you did not sign already)
2. To the manager/supervisor to approve the request for access
3. To the system owner (AP), to approve the request

Users will only be notified when access is granted for specific systems after all approvals are completed.

All requests can actively be monitored inside of AMP. Users can log into AMP and check current status of requests, which will include comments made by anyone on the request.

If you have questions regarding the AMP platform, please contact HIT Security at MCCSecurity@hscmail.mcc.virginia.edu.

If you have already completed the CBL you will not need to do it again. Once you submit your Tuition Assistance request online it will be sent to your supervisor for initial approval and then be routed to HR for final approval. You will then receive email notification that your request has been approved or requires additional information. Within 2 business days of an approval, you will receive a direct deposit in the account you have on file.

Please note that with this online process your request amount must be exact. If the amount you request is more than the maximum benefit available, or the documentation does not match the amount you are requesting, the request will be returned to you for correction and re-submission to your supervisor. Also, the benefit maximum will be based on the calendar year in which payment is made.

If you have a question that is not addressed by these resources, please contact the HR Solution Center at AskHR@virginia.edu or 434.243.3344.

Job Aid

If you receive over the IRS limit of $5,250 for education costs within the year, the excess is considered taxable income to you and appropriate taxes (federal, social security, medicare and state tax, if applicable) will be withheld at the point in time in which you exceed that amount.

The amount credited to your annual benefit allotment is based on the year the reimbursement is paid.

Academic Division Employees

You should plan to take courses scheduled at times that will not require absence from work during your regular work hours. Check with your supervisor prior to registration to determine if your supervisor can approve a work accommodation request.

The decision to grant a work accommodation for the Education Benefit is discretionary with your School/Unit/Department supervisor, and is based on your supervisor's assessment of a number of factors, including anticipated needs of your unit, available resources, and your motivation and potential. Supervisors are encouraged to make a reasonable effort to find an appropriate work schedule accommodation.

Work time off to attend classes is permitted on Sponsored Projects.

Several types of work schedule accommodations are possible, including:

• Revised work schedule
• Excused absence with use of leave time
• Release time with pay

Medical Center Team Members

Your manager is responsible for determining if the credit load and/or eligible course schedule requested will interfere with your work commitment or performance. If you are a part-time employee, you must take classes outside of your regular work schedule.

Academic Division Employees

Funds will be deposited through your payroll. This may take up to two full pay cycles.

You are required to provide an itemized invoice, proof of payment, and proof of completion/attendance are required within 30 days of completion and should be uploaded together in Workday as one document. Providing documentation is an IRS requirement. You must submit the following proof of completion:

If you leave the University before successfully completing the course, or before reimbursing any amounts owing under this policy, or you do not register for or you stop attending a course for which you have received an education benefits disbursement, you are responsible for immediate repayment of the full amount of the benefit disbursement.

Medical Center Team Members

For Advance Tuition Requests, within 30 days after completing your course, please submit evidence of your satisfactory course completion to UVA HR, or repay the advance tuition amount.

Payments will be direct deposited into your account within 2 business days following final approval by UVA HR and successful completion of the eligible course or professional certification.

Expenses that have been waived or paid through other sources such as scholarships or grants are not eligible for reimbursement.

You are not eligible for reimbursement of educational expenses if you do not complete the eligible course satisfactorily, you drop or withdraw from the course, or you terminate Medical Center employment (except when transferring employment to the Academic Division of UVA). If you leave Medical Center employment, you are required to repay all Educational Assistance reimbursement amounts received by the departing employee, within twelve (12) months prior to the date of termination, and any Advance Tuition payments for courses that are completed less than twelve (12) months prior to termination. Appropriate deductions will be made to recoup the full amount of these assistance payments from your final pay.