Tuition Assistance: Frequently Asked Questions
Am I eligible to receive tuition assistance? When I am eligible to receive tuition assistance?
Faculty:
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Administrative/professional faculty
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After six (6) months of employment with NOVA
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With current teaching contract. However, this waiting period is waived for faculty members who have already taught fifteen or more credit hours at NOVA.
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Teaching faculty, including part time P-3 teaching faculty
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After one (1) semester of teaching at NOVA
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With current teaching contract.
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Adjunct Faculty—
Eligible for Free NOVA classes ONLY
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After two (2) semesters of teaching at NOVA
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With current teaching contract.
- Eligible to receive free tuition for NOVA credit classes only.
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Classified Staff:
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P-3 classified staff
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Eligible after six months of employment.
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P-14 –hired to work 20hrs or more each week are eligible for free NOVA classes ONLY.
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Eligible after six months of employment.
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Exceptions to the six -month requirement
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If the supervisor requests it due to the course being job-related, or required.
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Are work-study, student hires, and F-1 students eligible for employee tuition assistance even if they also work as P-14 employees for the college? NO.
Is funding available for tuition at accredited institutions outside NOVA? Eligible employees have up to $1,900 available to them for coursework at accredited institutions, if it is supervisor required, job-related, or part of a degree program. Approval is determined on a case-by-case basis depending on priority and funds availability. The maximum amount of monetary educational assistance per eligible employee (see question #1), per fiscal year is $1,900 depending on availability of funds. A pro-rated amount is available for eligible employees serving 20-39 hours per week.
- How do I request tuition assistance? To initiate a request for tuition assistance:
- Complete form 105-043A for NOVA credit course and 105-043B for external courses (available online),
- Follow the the online approvals to ensure the required signatures from your supervisor/provost/VP are received before the course start date.
- What is the deadline for turning in a tuition assistance request? Tuition assistance requests must be completely filled out and received in Human Resources (HR) before registering in the course to be eligible for consideration. We recommend completing the online requests at least two weeks before the class start date to allow ample time for processing.
What do I do if I drop a course approved for tuition assistance? Keep in mind that if you drop a course beyond the census drop date, you will be obligated to pay back the tuition on NOVA courses and those that were paid up-front. Timely notification to Human Resources in such cases is needed. However, if you had to drop a NOVA course due to a medical issue, please contact the Business Office to seek an exception. Exceptions from the Business Office should be reported to HR for tracking purposes.
- I have tuition assistance and need to switch classes. The class I want to take is the same number of credits. Can I just enroll in the different class? Tuition assistance is specific to the course work listed on the request form and approval is not transferable to another course. If you decide not to take a pre-approved course, you will need to contact HR so the requested tuition assistance is withdrawn. If you want tuition assistance for a different class, you must request it separately. However, if you are taking the same course, but only switching sections, you are permitted to do so without additional approval. Please allow enough time for the approval process to take place when requesting a course change.
- When would I be required to repay tuition assistance and NOVA free courses? Any time you drop a course after the census date or receive less than a “C” grade, you will be required to pay back all course fees, including those that would be associated with free NOVA courses. The promissory note included to complete 105-043B necessitates pro-rated repayment If you leave the college prior to six months from the course start date.
Please contact hrlearn@nvcc.edu if you have any remaining questions.