CM-28 - Educational Privileges of Health Sciences Center

Non-Academic and Other Academic Employees

April 21, 1993

The LSU Board of Supervisors has approved policy changes regarding tuition exemptions for university employees. The following information explains the details of the new program and how it will affect employees.

The new tuition exemption program provides for full-time non-academic and other academic employees, with the approval of their immediate supervisor and department head, to register for courses not involving more than six hours of absence from work during the week. Educational leave may be granted for this purpose for up to three hours a week. Any hours of absence in excess of three hours per week must be charged to annual leave, where available, or leave without pay.

Leave will be predicated on the applicability of course work to employment. All requests, without exception, must be made in writing, and approved in advance by the employee's immediate supervisor, appropriate department head, and the Assistant Vice Chancellor for Administration and Finance (or his designee) for the Shreveport and New Orleans campuses, respectively, who conduct the final review of employee eligibility and conformity to policy intent.

"Non-academic" employees include non-classified and classified personnel. "Other Academic" employees include library associates, research associates, and clinical associates but exclude faculty with the rank of Instructor, Assistant Professor, Associate Professor, Professor, and equivalent Librarian ranks.

"Applicability of course work" is to be narrowly interpreted. The following points are a guide:

if the course is beneficial to the employee in performing the functions outlined in his or her position description, it may be approved;

if the course is beneficial to the employee's advancement to a higher position to which he or she might logically aspire within the unit, it may be approved; or

if the course is required for a degree program in which the employee is enrolled and if the degree program is also job-related in the sense of points a. and b. above, it may be approved.

With the prior approval of an immediate supervisor and Department Head, full-time (100% effort) non-academic and other academic employees with one or more years of service may receive an exemption from University tuition for up to six credit hours of job related course(s) per semester (up to three credit hours during the Summer Session) on a campus of the LSU System. For purposes of this memorandum, applicable campuses are the LSU Health Sciences Center, The University of New Orleans, Louisiana State University in Baton Rouge, and Louisiana State University in Shreveport.

Continued participation in this program is predicated upon the employee maintaining satisfactory academic performance.

If subsequent to enrollment, an employee has been determined ineligible for the tuition exemption program, he/she will then be required to pay the appropriate fees for the course(s). If the employee prefers not to continue in the course(s), i.e., not pay the fee, he/she will be administratively dropped from the course(s) by the relevant LSU Campus. If the employee prefers to continue the course(s), suitable payment arrangements must be made by the employee with the Bursar or equivalent campus officer.

In order to standardize University policy and procedures, the following procedure and attached form must be used to request participation in the program.

Procedure

1. The employee obtains copy of form (each Department should make additional copies), fills out their portion of the information, and signs the form. The request for the tuition and fee exemption must be submitted in advance of registration through the immediate supervisor and department head to the Assistant Vice Chancellor for Administration and Finance or designee.
2. An approved or disapproved form will be returned to the employee. The employee must present the approved form at the time of registration for a tuition exemption. The employee is responsible for paying any fees not covered by the exemption.
3. At the time of registration the employee is attesting to the fact that he/she is in compliance with all eligibility criteria. If it is determined after registration that the employee has not met the eligibility requirements, the employee will be required to drop the course(s) or pay the required tuition and fees.
4. The form also serves as documentation for Health Sciences Center leave records any approvals for education leave.

This new policy provides our employees with a substantially increased educational benefit. It also may present a significant financial cost in terms of lost tuition revenue to the University of New Orleans, Louisiana State University in Baton Rouge, and Louisiana State University in Shreveport. We are relying on the cooperation and good faith of our sister campuses in providing this education. It is incumbent upon supervisors and department heads to take a very restrictive approach towards determining the job-relatedness of courses.

Thank you for your assistance and cooperation.

Signed: Perry G. Rigby, M.D., Chancellor

ATTACHMENT (PDF fill able form)