As you may be aware, NEOMED offers a very comprehensive benefit plan to our employees. One of these benefits is Educational Benefits, which are available to full time employees who have been continuously employed for 6 months. This is a highly utilized benefit, which we are proud to offer to our full-time employees. In order to sustain the Educational Benefits program, we have made some changes to the Educational Benefits Policy. Please refer to the attached policy to review the policy and the current requirements under this program. Many of these changes will take effect July 1, 2018, while others have future changes effective July 1, 2020. These changes are summarized below:
Effective July 1, 2018
1) Employees will be required to apply for, accept, and disclose any institutional scholarship award. Please note that failure to do so may result in disqualification from the educational benefits program. Itemized invoices will now be required so that NEOMED will be able to see any tuition deductions or scholarships that are applied.
2) Educational benefits will no longer be available to dependent children of deceased employees if employee was hired July 1, 2018 or after.
3) Educational benefits will no longer be available to retirees, retiree spouses, or dependent children of retirees who were hired July 1, 2018 or after.
4) Employees are required to submit grades at the end of the semester within the specified time period. Failure to do so may result in denial of educational benefits for the following semester. Employees will then be required to seek reimbursement instead of having benefits paid on their behalf.
5) If an employee leaves NEOMED within one year of degree completion, the employee will be required to reimburse NEOMED for the educational expenses that were incurred on his/her behalf within the past twelve months (note, this would not include expenses incurred on behalf of an employee’s dependent/spouse).
6) Employees will be required to reimburse NEOMED under the following guidelines for any monies owed to the University under the terms of the policy (e.g., for grades or dropped classes):
a. Must be paid in full within 30 days of receipt of invoice or payroll deduction will result
b. For amounts owed of $1,200 or less, employees will have a maximum of 6 months to repay the University through payroll deduction
c. For amounts over $1,200, employees will have a maximum of 12 months to reimburse the University through payroll deduction
d. If an Employee owes the University an outstanding balance of $250 or more at the time of application for Instructional Fees is submitted, the University will not prepay Instructional fees for that semester. Employee will be required to pay all instructional fees for that semester and seek reimbursement upon submitting passing grades and paid invoice.
Effective July 1, 2020
1) Instructional fees for summer sessions will only be paid for employees. Spouses and dependent children will no longer be eligible for payment of instructional fees for summer sessions.
2) Second graduate degrees for employees will be covered at 50% of the instructional fees, regardless of whether or not the degree is job related.
Please be sure to review the updated policy in its entirety and if you have any questions, please contact Juleen Payne, HR Manager at jpayne1@neomed.edu or Melissa Hulett, HR Coordinator mhulett@neomed.edu with any questions.
Submitted by Juleen Payne