Tuition benefits extended to more employees’ children

FROM RICE NEWS STAFF REPORTS

Employees’ stepchildren and children of domestic partners may now be eligible for free tuition if they attend Rice University, Trinity University in San Antonio or Austin College in Sherman, Texas.

This change in Rice’s benefits policy originated in the Faculty and Staff Benefits Committee, whose members were concerned that employees’ stepchildren and the children of their domestic partners who are admitted to these schools were not eligible to take advantage of the free tuition benefit that Rice offers.

To compensate for the expanded coverage, the committee also recommended extending the vesting period for employee eligibility for the benefit from one to three years and reducing the total number of semesters available under this benefit to eight semesters at all three schools.

“These changes bring Rice’s tuition benefit more in line with the policies of peer universities that provide this benefit,” said Mary Cronin, associate vice president for Human Resources. “We owe the committee thanks for the hard work and care they invested to make this policy change.”

The expansion of the tuition benefit to eligible stepchildren and children of domestic partners is now in effect, but the new vesting requirement will apply prospectively to employees hired after July 1, 2010. The eight-semester maximum has previously been in place at Trinity University and Austin College, and will now apply to all newly matriculating students at Rice after July 1 next year.

The amended version of Rice Policy 430 on Tuition Remission for Dependents, which contains detailed information on the requirements for eligibility under the policy, taxability of the benefit and the specific application of the benefit at the reciprocal institutions, Trinity University and Austin College, is available online at http://www.professor.rice.edu/professor/Tuition_Remission_for_Dependents.asp.