The University of Iowa Staff Council is working on a request to increase funding for the University of Iowa’s Tuition Assistance Program administered by University Human Resources.  The Tuition Assistance Program is a valuable resource for University employees seeking to continue their education either at the University of Iowa or another institution.  Currently, the program is underfunded to meet the demand of eligible staff and faculty.

At this time, the program awards up to four semester hours of tuition assistance on a first-come, first-serve basis and closes the application once funding has been exhausted.  This makes it difficult to assess what the actual institution-wide demand may be on an annual basis and may discourage employees from taking advantage of the program.  Given the lack of available data and the way in which the program is administered, Staff Council will request that the Budget Review Board grant a three year, non-recurring increase so that we can better assess this institutional demand.  This three-year period will be used to gather more data on how many employees are enrolled in collegiate continuing education and who might apply to the Tuition Assistance Program.  Additionally, during this period, Staff Council plans to work with University Human Resources to review the program’s level of assistance, eligibility requirements, and application process to ensure that the program is meeting the demands of University of Iowa employees.

The funding request is currently being considered and will be submitted for feedback sometime in the near future. For more information on the Tuition Assistance Program, please visit https://hr.uiowa.edu/development/learning-and-development/tuition-assistance-program.