WAC 172-11-040: Waiver of Tuition (Draft)

2 thoughts on “WAC 172-11-040: Waiver of Tuition (Draft)”

1. I am happy to hear that EWU is thinking about employee incentives. The recruitment and retention of an excellent workforce is essential to the sustainability of this institution. I do have a couple of questions and comments, though.

   The first is seeking a clarification of this statement: “The dependent tuition waiver covers 50% of the operating fee portion of tuition for enrollment of up to 18 quarter or semester credits.” Is that 18 credits in total? Or per quarter/semester? If the former, it seems to be saying that this tuition waiver covers 10% of an academic program and 5% of actual tuition. For the sake of all that is good, I sincerely hope you mean 18 credits PER quarter/semester.

   Another comment I have is regarding the one child/spouse tuition waiver at a time rule. Since many families have children less than 4-5 years apart in age, it seems like asking families to choose which child gets the waiver (and in some cases, which child gets to go to college or not) is a pretty messy policy that conflicts with the State of Washington’s values for children. Moreover, the State has an extremely low college enrollment rate; I recommend not adding to the problem.

   I’ve done a little research into employee rewards and incentives, and my understanding is that rewards need to be meaningful and personalized. So when a reward conflicts with an employee’s situation (e.g., having two children two years apart), it is not really a reward or incentive–it’s actually demoralizing and possibly a catalyst for employees to jump ship for, say, Gonzaga which has a full tuition waiver. It’s better not to reward than to overpromise and underdeliver.

   Again, I love that EWU is considering a tuition waiver. I ask that it consider peer institutions like Gonzaga and Central Washington University, which provides a full waiver for dependents and spouses of employees.

2. Anna- we are simply adding a cross-reference to the EWU employee dependent and spouse tuition waiver policy in these proposed changes to WAC 172-11-040. The Board of Trustees approved this new tuition benefit on December 8, 2023, so we are no longer accepting comments to EWU Policy 405-01 (Dependent Children & Spouses Tuition Waiver).