A Brief Introduction About the Tuition Reimbursement Form
Tuition reimbursement form is a form used by the employees who want to get their tuition expenses reimbursed. Most companies provide this form to their employees where they should fill the complete information with details like total tuition fees paid and the course for which it was paid. Similarly, there are some scholarship programs that will repay the students’ fees at the end of their course. Attaching a payment receipt is important while filling in this form
People Involved in Tuition Reimbursement Form
People involved in this agreement are the employees and employers or companies. It is very easy for employees to fill the tuition reimbursement form template, as it is a well-organized and designed template. Most companies give importance to the education of their employees and they encourage and offer their employees reimbursement of the entire tuition fee. But to pay the fee, the company needs some essential details to be furnished by the employee. So, here, the employee has to provide details to get the fee repaid by the organization after their course.
Purpose of the Tuition Reimbursement Form
The main purpose of this agreement is to help the employees to continue their education, which will benefit the company. This tuition reimbursement request form benefits the company by reducing labor turnover and therefore, its goodwill. In most of the cases, employers agree to pay a part of the employee’s tuition fee. Because the federally allowed maximum amount for the company to pay is $5,250, no employer will pay more than this. As for the remaining amount, the best option is to opt for financial aid to meet the expenses for education.
Contents of the Tuition Reimbursement Form
In general, there are three main ways that an employee or student can use to set up payment through tuition reimbursement.
- The student or employee can make the arrangements for his/her education to charge the employer a fee directly.
- The student or employee can provide the educational institution with an official document stating that his/her education expenses will be paid later, like at the end of the semester by the employer.
- The student or employee can pay the tuition fee using his/her expenses and can get back the fee from the employer later.
It is very important to consider the fact that employers might repay your fee only when you meet certain specifications, such as the successful completion of a degree or a course under a certain course period. Another note is the students will get the support from a financial aid program only when they engage half of their time in college courses. So a standard tuition reimbursement form sample would contain the following terms
- Name of the employee, his designation and his ID
- Name of the course completed
- Name of the university from which the course has been completed
- Proof of enrollment
- Proof of completion of the course
- Type of course — whether full time, part time, or diploma
- Amount of fee paid totally
- Amount of loan taken or financial aid utilized from third parties
- Details of the loan or aid, its schedule and balances
- Proof of loan taken or aid utilized
- Payment receipt
- Confirmation from the employer or the HR for pursuing such course
- Amount requested to be reimbursed
- Acknowledgment that no further claims would be raised
- Acknowledgment that the reimbursement would tie him to the other obligations of the company
Points to consider while preparing the Tuition Reimbursement Form
As already said, the employee has to furnish some important details in the form to process the request for reimbursement. Many tuition reimbursement agreements are getting disqualified due to the wrong filling of the details. Some of the key details that the employee is required to provide include:
- The name of the educational institute
- Course name
- Course code
- Name of the degree
- Time duration required to complete the course
- Cost per credit hour
- Total credit hours
- Total fee to be repaid
- Total fee that the employee is qualified to get
When the employee provides all the above information properly in tuition reimbursement application, he/she is eligible for reimbursement. In addition to this, an employee has to meet some other requirements, such as program requirements, coursework requirements, and timeframe requirements.
Negotiation Strategy
According to the annual reimbursement limit, an employee can able to get the maximum amount of $5,250. Such reimbursement period allowed for an employee is four years. A company will support the employee for coursework related to their current job. Another strategy to get your reimbursement is to serve the company for some specific period, even after completing the coursework. Such period will range from months to years.
Benefits & Drawbacks of the Tuition Reimbursement Form
Pros:
- When an employee continues their education while working, it will help to improve their professional skills. The more the employees learn, the more it’ll benefit the company
- Tuition reimbursement will help to increase the employees’ knowledge, loyalty, hard work, and motivation. As employers are helping for their education, employees will be motivated to study
- Tuition reimbursement helps the company with taxes. According to the IRS, the company can offer a maximum of $5,250 as tuition reimbursement to an employee(1) and claim it as a company’s expense.
Cons:
Sometimes for certain courses, an employer has to pay a lot of money which is costly. In some cases, when you are dealing with your employees carefully, they tend to leave the job soon after you repaid their fee.
What Happens in Case of Violation?
When the company terminates an employee, it will not impose any penalty on an employee when they are terminated with no faults in work. When an employee violates the agreement, the employer will not repay you the education costs. If an employee leaves prematurely or without completing his other obligations, he needs to reimburse the company the cost of his education before getting the service letter or proof of work
Thus, the tuition reimbursement agreement helps an employee to continue their higher education and can implement the concepts learned through his/her education in real-time jobs. With the help of the tuition reimbursement agreement, both the organization and the employees are getting mutual benefits, as the company can able to reduce the tax issues(2).