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State Employee Tuition Waiver Program
Guidelines
This "Intent to Apply" form is for use by state employees who wish
to obtain waivers of tuition and fees, pursuant to Section 1009.265, Florida
Statutes. Please note that Section 1009.265(5), F.S. specifically excludes
university employees. Also, proviso language in the General Appropriations Act
specifies that state employees must be full time.
By completing this form and submitting it to a state university or community
college, state employees are merely notifying the institution of their intent to
apply for a tuition waiver. They will still need to follow the normal student
registration process required by the state university or community college
before being permitted to attend classes. Many institutions have their own
process for accepting and registering state employees, including the completion
of other forms.
It is recommended that this form be submitted to the educational institution
six weeks prior to the beginning of classes for the applicable semester or term.
A new Intent to Apply form must be completed for each semester or term.
When signed by the supervisor and the agency head or designee, this form
serves as certification that the applicant is a full time state employee working
with the agency indicated on the form. Full time employee means the employee
holds an established authorized position with a full time equivalency (FTE).
Full-time status equates to 1.0 FTE. If the employee holds multiple authorized
positions, the FTE must equal 1.0.
In the absence of agency policy to the contrary, participants should attend
the courses on their own time, unless the agency has determined this course or
courses is required education or training. Supervisors are not obligated to
grant time off, with or without pay, to accommodate participation during work
hours. Each employee needs to be aware of their respective agency’s policies
in these matters.
Waivers will only apply to tuition and fees for up to the six credit hours.
All other charges are the responsibility of the employee. Employees may only
register for classes during the special registration period that the particular
university or college has set aside for state employees.
Enrollment in the courses requested is on a space available basis. Space
available means that state employees who intend to use fee waivers must wait
until the college or university has determined if the course(s) in question have
met their minimum requirement of fee-paying students. Therefore, state employees
should not assume that they will be able to register in their selected course(s)
until this determination is made (usually at the end of the registration and
drop/add period, which may overlap with the first week of classes). Also,
certain college credit courses operate strictly on a cost recovery basis and
cannot accept fee waivers. Each university and community college is responsible
for advising state employees of those particular courses for which they do not
permit the use of fee waivers.
If, during the course of a calendar (tax) year the value of the waivers
received by the employee exceeds $5,250, the employing agencies must report the
excess as taxable income. Reporting instructions are contained in the Bureau of
State Payroll Preparation Manual, Volume VI, Section 3, pp. 18-19. See http://www.dbf.state.fl.us/bosp/BOSP_MANUAL.pdf.
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