THE SPRING 2025 WAIVERS WILL OPEN ON NOVEMBER 4, 2024
Tuition Waivers, Affidavits for Grad School Tuition Tax Exemption Waivers, and Extended Tuition Waivers must be completed and turned in EVERY semester, and only for the CURRENT semester. Proof of Dependency must also be submitted every semester for dependents.
Please Note: The January 21, 2025 deadline also applies for the Spring 2025 Affidavit for graduate school Tuition Tax Exemption Waiver, and for the Extended Tuition Waiver. Forms submitted after the deadline will need to go through the Appeal Process to be approved.
For the affidavit, please keep in mind that confirmation emails do not have to be sent out until after the form closes and any confirmation email sent before the form closes is a courtesy.
The Tuition Waiver Program provides the opportunity for Full-Time Tulane University employees and their family members to continue their education at Tulane. Each semester, eligible employees and their eligible family members may receive exemption from tuition only by completing the online tuition waiver form. Please note that the tuition waiver solely covers tuition. It does not cover any fees associated with the waiver such as technology fees and application fees.
Here you will find program details to include: Employee & Dependent Waivers, Extended Tuition Waiver Programs, Tuition Exchange Program, How to Enroll & Make Changes, Qualified Program List, and the Affidavit of Qualification for Tuition Waiver Tax Exemption Form (for graduate courses only).
How To Submit A Tuition Waiver:
Note: In order to use the waiver, one must be accepted as a student and enrolled in classes first.
How to Enroll? For Staff and Faculty: we suggest going through SOPA, or the School of Professional Advancement, as they are geared towards specifically helping Tulane employees on their educational journey as part-time students while being a working professional. They also have a very nice, easy to follow admissions process on their site at https://sopa.tulane.edu/admissions. For Dependent Spouses and Children: they will need to go through the Office of Undergrad Admission at https://admission.tulane.edu/.
Questions about Tulane's Tuition Waiver Program? Check out these FAQs.
Tuition Waiver and Tuition Exchange
Tuition Waiver
The Tuition Waiver program provides the opportunity for employees and their family members the ability to continue their education at Tulane University. Each semester, eligible employees and their eligible family members may receive exemption from the payment of tuition by completing the online Tuition Waiver form. It is important to understand that there are restrictions to this program. Dependents are only eligible to take Undergraduate Courses/Programs using the Tuition Waiver. Also, the tuition waiver solely covers tuition. It does not cover any fees associated with the waiver such as technology fees and application fees. For the Qualified Program List, click here.
Affidavit of Qualification for Graduate School Tuition Waiver Tax Exemption
For a tuition waiver to be tax exempt, the courses paid for must meet certain strict requirements: the course must be directly related to your job or the employee must be a graduate student who performs teaching or research activities for the educational organization. In general, the courses must serve bona fide business requirement of your employer, they must either maintain or improve skills required by your current job or they must be required by your employer or the law to keep your present salary, status or job.
Complete the Affidavit of Qualification for Tuition Waiver Tax Exemption (for graduate courses only). Return the Affidavit AND a job description that is signed by both employee and supervisor to TUBenefits in Human Resources. The deadline for submitting the Affidavit of Qualification for Tax Exemption Form and signed job description is the same as that of the Tuition Waiver Form for each semester.
Extended Tuition Waiver Program
The Extended Tuition Waiver program provides the opportunity for previous eligible employees and their family members the ability to continue their education at Tulane University. The total number of annual tuition waivers available to an eligible employee, along with his or her spouse, and/or dependent children as a group is equal to the number of years of full-time service by the employee, including the academic year in which the retirement, disability or death occurs. Dependents are only eligible to take Undergraduate Courses/Programs using the Extended Tuition Waiver. To view the eligibility requirements of the Extended Tuition Waiver Program for staff members, click here (page 57) and for faculty members, click here (page 130).
To obtain the Extended Tuition Waiver Form please contact TUBenefits.
Tuition Exchange Program
Tulane is a member of the National Tuition Exchange. The Tuition Exchange Program is administered by the Financial Aid Office. If your dependent is applying for admission to another National Tuition Exchange member institution, timely approved certification from Tulane is required to allow your dependent to try to win a Tuition Exchange Scholarship at the targeted member school/s. In order for your dependent to be considered for the competition, you must complete and submit Tulane's Tuition Exchange Export Application Packet by the deadline, as well as complete and submit information to the targeted school/s by their deadline/s (which may be earlier).
In order to continue to be considered for the scholarship, a Tuition Exchange Export Application Packet and the targeted member school information must also be completed by the deadlines every subsequent year for the dependents of Tulane faculty or staff dependents who win the competition and are continuing enrollment at the National Tuition Exchange member institution.
More information, including a link to the application packet, can be found here. To contact Financial Aid about Tuition Exchange, please email tuitionexchange@tulane.edu.
Eligible Employees: Full-time employees who have worked a minimum of 7 months or more are eligible to take either 2 courses or 6 credit hours per semester.
Eligible Dependents: Spouses and dependent children. For purposes of this program, the term "spouse" means the person to whom the employee is currently and legally married, and does not include divorced and legally separated spouses. For purposes of this program, the term "dependent children" means the biological, adopted, or stepchildren of the employee who are claimed as dependents for federal income tax purposes on the employee's income tax return.
Eligibility after Break in Service: If you experience the following breaks in service, you will still be eligible for the Tuition Waiver if:
- Involuntary Termination: Introductory period complete, laid off, and rehired within one (1) year of termination date.
- Voluntary Termination: Introductory period complete, voluntarily resign, and rehired within thirty (30) days of termination date.
If you were unable to meet the deadline to submit a tuition waiver request, under specific circumstances, you may be allowed to appeal your situation. Be mindful that you may appeal your tuition waiver request only once during your entire Tulane career. No exceptions will be given after your first appeal has been submitted.
Please see the guidelines below:
- Appeals should outline your specific request and why you are requesting an exception.
- The appeal should outline the specific reasons for missing the deadline(s)
Within the body of the email, and not as a separate attachment.
- The reasons should detail completely any extraordinary circumstances that prevented you from complying with the published deadline(s), requirements, or making changes to selected benefits.
- You should also detail the reason(s) why you feel you should be granted an exception.
Send your appeal only to TUBenefits@tulane.edu and type “APPEAL” in the subject line.
Please do not copy anyone on the Benefits Staff on your Appeal request as they are not involved in the Appeal process.
Appellants can expect to receive an email notifying them of the final decision within two weeks. Once notified, the appellant may be required to submit additional documentation to support any approved changes.
The decision of the Appeals Committee is final.
