Tuition/Fee Reimbursement Program for Unclassified Employees

As a member of the UWM faculty, academic staff (with a probationary, indefinite, or fixed-term appointment), or a limited appointee, you can be reimbursed for career-related course work or training which you take while employed at UWM.

All non-discretionary and discretionary requirements must be satisfied for reimbursement.

Eligibility

Campus-wide requirements for reimbursement:

1. The employee must have an appointment of 50% time or greater.
2. Course requests for a non-UW institution will be approved only if the program/course is not available at UWM.
3. Reimbursement for course work taken at private institutions will be limited to the tuition at UWM. If the tuition is lower than UWM’s, the lower tuition rates would apply.
4. Reimbursement will be limited to one course (up to 5 credits or its training equivalent) per academic term (i.e., a semester, summer session or equivalent). Fixed-term employees on short-term contracts, typically temporary replacements, are not eligible.

Additional requirements for reimbursement to be determined by department or division:

1. The course must be beneficial to both the University and the employee in increased knowledge, abilities, and skills. This may include:
   • Courses which related directly to improving or maintaining current job skills
   • Courses mandated by law or regulation for the employee to retain their job
   • Courses related directly to the employee’s current profession
   • Courses which provide for career development within the University
2. Approval of a reimbursement request is dependent upon availability of funding. Requests can be granted at a full or partial reimbursement rate.

Procedures for Reimbursement

1. Fee/tuition reimbursement requests must be submitted by the unclassified employee prior to the start of the semester, and the request must be approved by the office of the Dean or Division Head before the course begins.
2. Employees will be reimbursed upon successful completion of the course, submission of a fee/tuition receipt and evidence of successful completion of the course work (grade report or certification of completion).
3. Exceptions to these rules may be authorized by the Chancellor on a case by case basis. Employees who wish to take advantage of the program should contact the office of their respective dean or division head for more information.
4. Campus administration will work with Shared Governance to develop and maintain a means for tracking tuition reimbursement requests at the campus level. Tracking will include but not be limited to
   • the number of requests for reimbursement;
   • the number of approvals and
   • the number of denials and why a request was denied.

This information will be reported to the Academic Staff Committee on an annual basis.

February 11, 1977

Original

July 1, 1977

Revised

October 1, 1985

Revised

January 1, 1991

Revised

September 11, 1997

Revised

May 6, 2011

Revised