Policy 22

Tuition Fee Financial Support for Spouses and Dependents of University of Ottawa Staff Members

Approved Executive Committee of the Board of Governors 67.23

TUITION FEE FINANCIAL SUPPORT FOR SPOUSES AND DEPENDENTS OF UNIVERSITY OF OTTAWA STAFF MEMBERS

PURPOSE

  1. The purpose of this policy is to define the conditions governing the Tuition Fee Financial Support Program for staff members’ spouses and dependents registered in programs of studies at the University of Ottawa.

    ELIGIBILITY

  2. Only the spouse and/or dependents (under the age of twenty-seven) of the following persons are eligible for tuition fee financial support when registered in a regular funded course or program of studies at the University of Ottawa:
    1. members of the teaching staff who are eligible for full employee benefits as defined in Policy No.8;
    2. members of the administrative staff who are employed by the University and who are eligible for full employee benefits as defined in Policy No.8; in the case of staff members who work for ancillary or self-financed services, the eligibility for financial assistance is maintained but the costs are paid by the unit where the person works;
    3. grant-funded staff members who are eligible for full University benefits;
    4. members of the Board of Governors;
    5. members of the teaching staff and administrative staff of Saint Paul University who are eligible for full benefits granted by their employer, as defined in Policy No.8 of the University of Ottawa;
    6. retired members of staff who met the eligibility criteria stated in the above articles at the time of their retirement and who are not more than 70 years of age;
    7. staff members who have been deceased for at most twelve months when their spouse or dependent register and who met the eligibility criteria before their death; however, the eligibility of the spouse or dependent for tuition fee financial support extends only until April30 following the death of the staff member;
    8. members of APTPUO who are eligible for the benefit described in 10.13 and 10.14 of the 2007-2010 collective agreement or in a similar provision in successor APTPUO collective agreements.

  3. The term spouse refers to a person who either: is married through an ecclesiastical or civil ceremony to an employee, or, although not legally married to the employee, continuously cohabits with the employee in a conjugal relationship which is recognized as such in the community in which they reside for at least one year at the time a claim is incurred and who has been declared as their spouse to the employer. The term conjugal relationship shall be deemed to include a conjugal relationship between partners of the same sex.

    The term dependents refers to children (except those in foster care), grandchildren, nieces and nephews, as well as brothers and sisters, who depend on the eligible member for their subsistence. Eligibility is determined according to Canada Revenue Agency criteria.

    NATURE OF FINANCIAL ASSISTANCE

    Tuition fee financial support

  4. The term tuition fee financial support refers to a credit covering 100% of the tuition fees applied to the student account; it is awarded to students registered for regular funded programs of studies at the University of Ottawa, subject to the following conditions:
    1. Students eligible for tuition fee financial support are not, however, exempted from paying incidental fees (student association dues, Student Federation dues, Health Services, Sports Services, University Centre);
    2. Except in the case of a staff member’s death, where the benefit is extended to April 30 following the death, tuition fees must be paid for the sessions following the termination date of employees whose dependents had been receiving tuition fee support under this policy;
    3. Application forms for tuition fee financial support must be submitted by the prescribed deadline to the Human Resources Service.

  5. In accordance with income tax laws, the value of the tuition fee financial support is taxable for those receiving the benefit (i.e. the students), and the University is required to issue them a T4A. This applies to all tuition fee financial support given to spouses and to dependents.

    APPLICATION PROCESS

  6. Application forms for the Tuition Fee Financial Support Program are available from administrative officers and from the Human Resources Service. Applications may be completed for two consecutive sessions in the same academic year, but the tuition fee financial support will be awarded only one session at a time, to allow eligibility to be verified.

  7. Requests must be submitted by the end of the first month of each session (fall session:
    September30, winter session: January31, spring session: May31 and summer session: July31) to the Human Resources Service.

    EXCEPTION

  8. No exception to this policy may be made without the written consent of the Vice-President, Resources.

    Revised June 8, 2010

    (Human Resources)