Dependent Fee Waiver Survey

In June 1999, the Staff Senate sent a proposal to President Boren requesting tuition waivers for faculty and staff dependents. The proposal estimated that approximately 240 dependents would be enrolled in the University in any one year, with a cost of approximately $250,000 in tuition for those students. The proposal asks that the money be re-allocated within the current 3% of the E & G budget earmarked for scholarships. The proposal estimated that $150,000 was already being awarded to these dependents through current need-based or academic scholarships. Thus, approximately $100,000 in new tuition waivers would be necessary to fund the proposal.

In May 2001, Staff Senate conducted a survey of current faculty and staff to try to get a more accurate picture of the amount of money needed to start the program. On May 3, an e-mail was sent to all permanent faculty and staff (4,118 recipients) containing the survey. Alternatively, the survey could be filled out on Staff Senate's web page. An announcement of the survey and the web page address was included in Campus Connections. The survey asked for information about dependents currently enrolled (Spring 2001) and for dependents who could be enrolled in the next three years.

565 surveys were returned. Of these, 84 were from faculty and staff who do not currently have enrolled dependents and will not have any in the next three years, but wanted to show interest in the program. In addition, 41 others sent e-mails in support of the proposal, but did not fill out the survey. One person sent an e-mail opposing the proposal.

There were 164 undergraduate, and 21 graduate dependents enrolled in Spring 2001, with a total of 1,873 undergraduate hours and 133 graduate hours. The proposal requested tuition waivers for dependents of faculty and staff with at least 5 years of OU service. For those with at least 5 years of service, the totals were 117 undergraduates (1,334 hours) and 8 graduate dependents (54 hours). Using an average cost of $80/hour for undergraduate tuition and $103/hour for graduate tuition, the total cost for currently eligible employee dependents would be $112, 283. Assuming as the proposal did before that 60% of the hours are already being paid for with waivers, the cost for the Spring 2001 semester for the program would be $44,913. If these figures are comparable for those for the Fall 2000 semester, and the summer semester is included, the numbers are in line with those of the original proposal (approximately $100,000 per year).

If the proposal were phased in so that fewer hours were eligible for fee waivers, the numbers for Spring 2001 would be:

There were 379 respondents with a total of 485 dependents who could be enrolled in the next 3 years (162/year) and 80 respondents with 88 graduate dependents who could be enrolled in the next three years (29/year). These numbers are in line with those for the Spring 2001 semester.

The survey thus supports the proposal estimates.

6/01

TO: David L. Boren, President
FROM: Deborah Wollenberg, Chair
DATE: June 29, 1999
SUBJECT: Tuition Waiver Proposal for Faculty and Staff Dependents

On June 16, 1999, the Staff Senate voted to forward the following proposal on tuition waivers for dependents to you for consideration. While this program has been proposed in the past the Senate feels this proposal outlines a policy that would keep costs reasonable while providing added incentive to attract and retain valuable employees for the University family.

The Senate recognizes the necessity for the proposal to be reviewed by administrative and other governing bodies. While not all details are covered, our hope is to provide an outline for review and discussion. We welcome dialogue and want to emphasize our willingness to have a policy that is win-win for the University and its employees alike.

We propose the University offer tuition waivers to dependents of faculty and staff under the following system:

• Waivers of 50% of tuition up to 15 hours for the fall and spring semesters and six hours for the summer semester should be provided to dependents of faculty and staff. The waiver will not apply to student fees and books.
• Tuition waivers will be available for the dependents of all faculty and staff who are employed full-time and have been employees of the University for at least five years. "Dependents" and "employees" are as defined by current personnel policy,

In developing this proposal only the Norman campus was considered. We anticipate that the procedures for implementing it would be the same as for the existing faculty and staff waiver.

We conducted a survey of over 30 universities, including the Big 12, and found that the average number of FTEs/waiver for schools that offer dependent waivers is approximately 8:1. Based on the University of Oklahoma's five years of service FTE of 1,916 as of December 31, 1998, we estimate approximately 240 staff and faculty dependents would participate at this time. The estimated amount of tuition waived would be approximately $250,000 annually. This dollar amount is not all new waivers; simply the money would be re-allocated within the current 3% of the E & G budget earmarked for scholarships.

We estimate that $150,000 of the new dependent tuition waivers is now being awarded to eligible students through current need-based or academic tuition waivers. Therefore, only an estimated $100,000 in new tuition waivers would be awarded to students not now receiving any waivers. The $150,000 currently being awarded could be reclassified as dependent tuition waivers to emphasize the extent of this program.

We believe that tuition waivers for faculty and staff dependents should enhance the family atmosphere being fostered on campus, provide retention benefits for current employees, and act as a positive recruitment tool in competing for new hires. The cost of the program is a very small amount compared to the total allocated for scholarships and we believe can be awarded without any significant effects on other scholarship programs.

DW:bp

905 Asp Avenue, Room 250, Noman. Oklahoma 73019-0420 PHONE: (405) 325-4672

6 November 2001
To: Lee Willinger, School of Accounting, Adams Hall
From: Dan Hough, Staff Senate Chair
Topic: Dependent Fee Waiver

Enclosed are the results of three surveys the Staff Senate Ad Hoc Committee on Fee Waivers did in preparation for our proposal. The first was commissioned by the Bursar's office in 1997 and includes information on 8 schools that offer dependent fee waivers.

The second was done by Steve McKinzey of the committee in 1998-1999 and has information on twenty schools. The third is a list of Big 12 schools and their status on fee waivers as of Fall, 1998.

I hope this helps. If you need any other information, please let me know.

Date: May 12, 1997
To: Sharon Winslow, Financial Aid
From: Assistant Bursar
Subject: Dependent Tuition Waivers

Sharon, we have been calling places for over two months and these are the universities that responded:

Based on OU's FTE of 3868. This would equal 490 waivers/semester. These numbers were given over the phone and were done without documentation from any of the schools that supplied the information.

These schools were the ones that waived all or parts of resident tuition. We did not inquire about other enrollment fees. Some of the other information that might be useful is 1.) Dependents was usually defined as those claimed on federal taxes. 2.) The benefits office at most schools coordinated the establishment of eligibility. 3.) Undergraduate degrees only. 4.) Satisfactory progress was required (usually a two point). 5.) The number of hours or semesters for which this could be used was usually limited. (This was where majors could not be changed every year and accumulate 250 undergraduate hours).

As you can imagine, every variance of these points and other things were at the different schools. I thought these would be the most beneficial. Some of the students that would be eligible for these waivers would receive them instead of other waivers that they now receive from need based or academic based waivers. The actual increase in waivers cost would have to somehow factor this into the final cost. I would guess Matt would have some statistical model to use for this number. I'll share this memo with David. Please let me know if I can help.

mjk