Employee Tuition Assistance Benefit Plan

Ohio State employees who wish to take undergraduate classes using their tuition benefit must either be enrolled through the Admissions Office (if degree seeking) or through Extended Education.

Review all university deadlines, especially in regards to dropping courses, to successfully use your tuition benefit.

If you have any questions about the benefit, Human Resources can be reached at 614-292-1050 or at hr@osu.edu.

Plan Highlights

The Faculty and Staff Tuition Assistance Plan:

  • Does pay the instructional, general and non-Ohio resident fees up to 10 hours per term
  • Does not pay for other types of expenses, such as application fees, registration fees, late fees, lab fees, computer fees, student activity fees, recreational sports fee*, COTA bus fee, insurance, and books

You may enroll in undergraduate, graduate or professional degree-granting programs upon meeting the university’s admission requirements.

*The recreational sports fee is not charged to Ohio State employee’s accounts. Learn more about Recreational Sports Membership.

Fee Adjustments and One-Time Forgiveness Benefit

If you withdraw during the 75%, 50%, 0% refund periods, you are responsible for paying the non-refundable instructional and general fees. You may incur fee adjustments (which also may be referred to as forfeiture charges) if you withdraw from courses. The Plan will pay the fee adjustment for one academic term while you are actively employed with the university. A completed One-Time-Forgiveness Benefit Application and approval from the Office of Human Resources is required. You can only use this waiver once. Fee adjustments will be your responsibility if you have already used the one-time waiver. Contact hr@osu.edu for more information.

Refer to Faculty and Staff Tuition Assistance for more detailed information.

Tax Implications

Undergraduate tuition assistance benefits are generally not taxable.

Graduate-level tuition assistance benefits that do not exceed a certain amount in a calendar year are generally not taxable. Review the tuition assistance information for details.

Eligibility and Enrollment

  • Prior to receiving the benefit, you must be admitted to the university through either the Admissions Office or the Office of Extended Education. You may enroll in undergraduate, graduate, or professional degree-granting programs upon meeting the university’s admission requirements. Contact Buckeye Link or Extended Education for assistance.

  • Tuition assistance under the Plan is provided on an academic term basis. Eligible employees must enroll in the Plan for each academic term that assistance is requested.

  • To enroll in the Plan for an academic term, an eligible employee must go to Workday and follow steps below to complete online application for that term, every term the eligible employee takes courses. View the Tuition Assistance Enrollment job aid for a step by step on completing the enrollment into the Plan.

    1. Click Benefits from the home page.
    2. Under the Change section, click Benefits.
    3. Click Faculty and Staff Tuition Assistance Enrollment option from the drop down menu.
    4. Enter today’s date in the Benefit Event Date field, click Submit and follow remaining steps to complete enrollment.

Eligible employees who want a paper form should complete the Faculty and Staff Tuition Assistance Application.

How to Apply

How you should apply to Extended Education depends on several factors, including whether you have taken classes at Ohio State before. Apply well before the start of semester or session you wish to attend. It may take up to three weeks for your application to be processed.

In-office admission is available by appointment. Call 614-292-8860 to schedule.

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