Financial Aid and Human Resources have teamed up to enhance and clarify Drake’s policies and resources relating to Tuition Exchange Eligibility and Drake’s Tuition Waiver. The updated policies are posted now.  If you have any questions to pose or comments to share, you can click here to provide such feedback on either or both policies.

Tuition exchange eligibility
The big change is a great one: Drake has removed the one-year of service requirement to make it easier for new employees to access this benefit. This change results in tuition exchange eligibility more closely mirroring the Tuition Rebate Waiver policy. We hope this new standard will mean more Drake employees, and their dependents, will be able to take advantage of this great benefit without delay.

Additional edits to the Tuition exchange eligibility policy update language to reflect the application processes currently used by our two exchange partners: Tuition Exchange, Inc. (TE) and Council of Independent Colleges and Universities Tuition Exchange Program (CIC-TEP). Of particular note is the elimination of the “points system” that was used to determine which employees are approved by Drake for “export” through tuition exchange. Because Tuition Exchange, Inc. eliminated its Balance Sheet requirement (which required approximately equal imports/exports), schools are no longer limited in the quantity of students they can approve for export. Accordingly, Drake will approve for export all applications from eligible employees.

Tuition waiver
This policy has been renamed and will be referred to as the Tuition Waiver Policy, as the word rebate created confusion. Name change aside, most of the edits are minor, but the policy does now place greater emphasis on the need to submit applications for the Tuition Rebate prior to class registration. Although late applications have historically been approved, delayed submissions create administrative hardships and can impact employees’ payroll deductions. These problems can easily be avoided if applications are submitted in a timely manner.

One important change to note: the limitation on the number of dependents that can use the Tuition Waiver at one time (two dependents) no longer includes dependents who are utilizing tuition exchange. We hope that this change will also allow more Drake employees and their families to take advantage of this wonderful benefit.

A new resource page has been developed for Drake Tuition Benefits. Questions related to tuition waiver policy can be directed to maureen.dearmond@drake.edu. Questions related to the application process for Drake’s tuition benefits can be directed to ryan.zantingh@drake.edu.

— Ryan Zantingh, Student Financial Planning/Maureen De Armond, Human Resources