Tuition Assistance for Employees

Faculty/Staff Eligibility

The Employee Tuition Assistance Program applies to faculty and staff with an appointment of 48% or greater to a regular position with at least 6 months of continuous KU service as of September 1st for the Fall semester, February 1st for the Spring semester, or June 1st for the Summer term.

HR may deny applications for courses not covered. HR will grant tuition assistance for outside institutions only if KU does not offer the course, or its equivalent, as determined by HR and Enrollment Management. HR will consider any exception on a case-by-case basis. In the event HR awards tuition assistance for a class at an alternate educational institution, the amount of the total award will not exceed KU’s equivalent tuition rate. Any fees required by an alternate educational institution will be the participant’s responsibility.

Employee Dependent Tuition Assistance information is available on the Financial Aid and Scholarships webpage. 

Courses Eligible for Tuition Assistance Coverage

• Eligible KU courses (up to 12 credit hours per calendar year)
• Courses at outside institutions may be eligible if the course, or its equivalent, is not offered at the University of Kansas as determined by Human Resources and Enrollment Management. More information about courses at outside institutions of "Third Party Tuition Assistance" is detailed below.
• Both undergraduate and post-baccalaureate level courses
• College credit classes for professional development purposes or personal enrichment
• Classes that are taken for a grade or credit
• Independent Study and distance education courses through KU Continuing Education may be approved on a case-by-case basis (program requirements must be addressed by the applicant)
• Online library science and instructional design classes through Emporia State University, following the Third Party Tuition Assistance process
• Vocational classes for-credit at area vocational schools or Johnson County Community College, following the Third Party Tuition Assistance process
• For-credit classes at Johnson County Community College (JCCC), following the Third Party Tuition Assistance process
• Thesis and dissertation hours on a limited basis. The maximum number of hours covered through this program include six (6) credit hours for a Master’s thesis or nine (9) credit hours for a doctoral dissertation.
• Employees interested in completing the General Educational Development (GED) test may apply to the tuition assistance program to cover the costs of the test. Due to timeframe differences, employees interested in applying to the tuition assistance program for this purpose should contact HR directly via e-mail and do not have to adhere to the same application deadline schedule as required for regular tuition assistance applications.

Ineligible Courses at KU and Other Institutions:

• Accelerated degree programs at other universities
• Internships
• KU Bootcamps
• Non- for credit certificate programs
• Audited classes that are assessed tuition payment
• Professional development seminars or test preparation classes.
• The same course cannot be retaken unless the class is “readings, topics or seminars” with different subjects.

Applicant and Recipient Responsibilities

Receiving a tuition assistance award does not guarantee an employee admission to the University of Kansas. The employee must complete an application for admission by the start of classes. Employees should not wait for Tuition Assistance approval before completing an application for admission, as this can be a timely process.

An employee must submit a complete tuition assistance application by the specified deadlines as described below for each term (spring, summer, and fall) the employee wishes to request tuition assistance for.

Application Deadlines:

• Spring: First Friday in November by 5:00 p.m.
• Summer: First Friday in April by 5:00 p.m.
• Fall: First Friday in July by 5:00 p.m. (If this day falls on a National Holiday, then the deadline will be the following Monday)
• Employees who submit incomplete and/or late applications will be ineligible for tuition assistance.

Notification from Applicant of changes to Tuition Assistance Award:

An applicant who has been awarded tuition assistance must provide HR notification of any changes to the applicant’s tuition assistance award following the deadlines described as follows:

• If an applicant is approved for tuition assistance but decides not to enroll in the tuition assistance course, the tuition assistance recipient must notify HR of this decision in writing to hrdept@ku.edu prior to the first day of classes. 
• If a tuition assistance recipient decides to change the course for which tuition assistance was received, the recipient must notify HR of the requested class change prior to the add/drop date by submitting a new application and selecting that it is a modification to a previously submitted application.

Selection/Approval Information

KU will apply approved Tuition Assistance only to tuition costs; any course fees are the responsibility of the recipient. KU campus fees are automatically covered with the “staff rates” applicable to KU faculty and staff. KU will award approved Tuition Assistance for an amount that will not exceed KU’s equivalent tuition rate. Tuition assistance is subject to the availability of funding and the number of qualified applicants.

Withdrawing from Classes

If an employee needs to withdraw from a class:

• Contact the Office of the University Registrar by email at registrar@ku.edu or by phone at 785-864-4423 to initiate the withdrawal process.

Please notify HR by email at hrdept@ku.edu or by phone at 785-864-4946 of the decision to withdraw. The Tuition Assistance policy supports dropping a class after the full refund period without penalty, but some action from you may be required. If a course is dropped after the full refund period for that term, the Tuition Assistance credit hours for that course will still be deducted from those allotted to an employee in that calendar year. Employees who have a pattern of dropping courses past the full refund period may have future tuition assistance denied.

Third Party Tuition Assistance

If applying to receive tuition assistance for a Third Party institution, the tuition assistance applicant is responsible for applying for tuition assistance following the deadlines and application processes detailed above. If approved, the tuition assistance will be a preliminary approval contingent upon the tuition assistance recipient completing the course at the third party institution. The preliminary approval will include the amount of tuition assistance that will be awarded upon the employee completing the course. The tuition assistance recipient would be responsible for paying for the course at the Third Party institution up front, and upon completion of the course must provide documentation to Human Resources verifying that the preliminarily approved course was completed and an itemized receipt from the institution showing the amount paid for the course. Upon receipt of sufficient documentation from the employee proving the course was completed, Human Resources will reimburse the tuition assistance recipient for the amount identified upon the preliminary approval. If the tuition assistance recipient fails to complete the course (e.g. withdraws, drops, etc.), or fails to provide sufficient documentation that the course was completed, the reimbursement will not be processed. If the tuition assistance recipient provides sufficient documentation that the course was completed, but with a failing grade, the grade may impact eligibility for tuition assistance for future semesters.    

*An accessible version of the documents on this site will be made available upon request. Please contact our office at hrdept@ku.edu to request the document be made available in an accessible format.