Kenyon College provides several programs in support of educational opportunities for benefit-eligible employees, their spouses, and/or domestic partners and dependents.
All benefits described here also extend to retired members of the administration or staff who have worked in a benefits eligible position for the College for at least ten years. Conditions of eligibility are the same as for other employees and their dependents except that, in the case of deceased employees, eligibility conditions for dependents must have been met at the time of the employee's death.
The Vice President for Finance will decide any disputed cases of employee eligibility for tuition benefits. All other questions about the tuition-benefits policy should be addressed to the Controller.
Benefits are normally available for tuition charges only. Applied music fees and other fees for private lessons, like all non-tuition fees, are the responsibility of the student, except in the case of a College employee whose lessons are directly related to her or his work for the College, as determined by the employee's senior staff member.
(revised July 1998, May 2012)
(revised July 1998)
Eligible employees may enroll in courses at Kenyon College, with the instructor's permission and on a space-available basis, for credit or for audit, without charge for tuition. No more than one course may be taken during working hours. Written prior approval by the supervisor and the responsible senior staff member is required. In such cases the supervisor must certify to the senior staff that the employee may be spared during the working day and must specify the hours when the employee will make up the time lost while attending class and traveling to and from class. Neither class hours nor make-up hours should result in the elimination of a lunch break; at least one-half hour must be available each day for lunch.
Employees may enroll in a second class only if the class meeting time is outside of normal working hours for that employee. Again, approval of the instructor is required.
Tuition Waivers at Kenyon for the Spouses and/or Domestic Partners of Eligible Employees
Spouses and/or domestic partners (see Benefits, Health Insurance for a complete definition of domestic partner) of eligible employees may take up to two classes per semester without tuition charge, for credit or for audit, with the instructor's permission and on a space-available basis. Those who are admitted to regular degree candidacy may take more than two courses for credit on the same basis as other matriculants, without charge for tuition. Students desiring to matriculate at Kenyon must meet normal requirements for admission.
When the tuition benefit is used by the domestic partner of an employee, the value of the tuition benefit may be taxable income to the employee. According to current IRS regulations, if your domestic partner is not a dependent for income tax purposes, the pre-tax cost of the tuition benefit will be treated as imputed income and will be reported on the employee's W-2 as additional wages. Estimated taxes due on the imputed income will be withheld from the employee's paycheck automatically. Please notify the Controller and the Office of Human Resources as to the tax-dependent status of your domestic partner.
Please refer to the section below, "Tuition Waivers at Kenyon for the Children of Employees," for more complete information on qualified dependents.
Tuition Waivers at Kenyon for the Children of Employees
In order to be eligible, the child must be: 1) eligible to be the employee's legal dependent for income tax purposes (see definition below), 2) the employee's biological or legally adopted child or the child of the employee's spouse or domestic partner (in which case the child must have lived in the employee's household during the four years prior to the child's enrollment at Kenyon).
Definition of a "dependent" for income tax purposes: The IRS applies five tests to determine if an individual qualifies as a taxpayer's dependent. All of these conditions must be met to qualify as a dependent:
(revised July 1998, Nov 2010, Apr 2014)
Children of eligible members may participate in the GLCA Tuition Exchange if they are eligible for full tuition waivers at Kenyon. This program is not available to employees themselves, their spouses, or their domestic partners.
In addition to Kenyon, the following colleges and universities participate in the GLCA Tuition Exchange: Albion, Allegheny, Antioch, Beloit, Denison, DePauw, Earlham, Grinnell, Hope, Kalamazoo, Oberlin, Ohio Wesleyan, Wabash, Willamette, Wittenberg and Wooster. Application for the exchange must be made through the Kenyon Comptroller's office and the admissions office of the desired college. Applicants are admitted by the regular procedures used by each of the colleges.
Under this program, each participant's family will pay a fee equal to 15 percent of the GLCA mean tuition. This fee will be billed by and paid to the college that the participating child is attending.
Children of employees who were hired before July 1, 1977, are eligible to receive subsidies of $1,000 per year, per child, at undergraduate colleges other than Kenyon. However, children currently receiving assistance under the GLCA Tuition Exchange are not eligible for the subsidy. The annual subsidy may not exceed the amount due for tuition only (excluding other fees) as documented by a bill or statement from the college attended. Subsidies are normally paid directly to the institution in which the child is enrolled, but may be paid to the parents if timing or other problems make direct payment impossible. Under current IRS regulations, these payments are considered compensation to the employee and appropriate payroll taxes must be withheld. Subsidies will be provided for no more than four years for any child, and for no more than two children in any family. The dollar limit for each family is thus $8,000.
Students eligible for financial aid awards from outside sources such as federal or state governments, service clubs, and foundations apply for these through normal procedures. Except in those cases where the award is specifically for educational expenses other than tuition, such aid will be deducted from any full tuition benefits granted by Kenyon, including benefits under the GLCA Tuition Exchange.