The
University Senate of Michigan Technological University
Employee Education Policy
(Proposal 2-16)
Senate
Policy 909.1
I. Introduction
In an effort to
increase the benefits offered to full-time employees, we propose the following
benefit enhancement, which we believe will be cost neutral.
As currently
designed, Michigan Tech’s Employee Education
Policy provides a tuition-and-fee waiver for two classes per semester for
most regular, full-time employees, both exempt and non-exempt.
In some cases,
this feature of the Employee Education Policy presents a problem, as, for
example, when degree-seeking students are required to take one or more
one-credit courses, such as physical education classes and
graduate-research-conduct classes. In
such cases, employee-students may be restricted to taking only two credits in a
given semester, which can significantly extend their time to completion. (On the other hand, the current policy might
allow some students to take two 5-credit courses, for a total of 10 credits in
a given semester.)
Two of Michigan
Tech’s unions have resolved this problem by defining the tuition-and-fee-waiver
benefit in terms of credit hours taken rather than in terms of classes taken. Consequently, members of the American
Federation of State, County, and Municipal Employees (AFSCME) receive
tuition-and-fee waivers of 6 credits per semester; and members of the United
Auto Workers (UAW) receive tuition-and-fee waivers of 9 credits per semester.
II. Proposed
Changes in the Employee Education Policy
The University
Senate proposes that the current policies on tuition-and-fee waivers remain the
same for off-campus courses. However, for on-campus courses, we propose that
all non-represented employees receive tuition-and-fee waivers for up to two
courses or six credit hours, whichever is greater. (Hence, for
example, an eligible employee wanting to take two 5-credit courses could do so,
and an eligible employee wanting to take three 1-credit courses and one
3-credit course could also do so.)
III. Additional
Considerations
a. This policy
change would encourage Michigan Tech employees to take advantage of the
lower-cost, high-quality professional development opportunities available on
campus, which are also less disruptive of work schedules.
b. The proposal
will not interfere with work obligations because employees must already receive
approval from their supervisors for professional development activities,
including scheduling of classes. Michigan Tech already allows for flexible
scheduling under the Flexible
Work Options policies. Furthermore, many classes are scheduled outside of
normal work hours, limiting or eliminating disruption of employees’ work
schedules.
c. Savings in
this program might be realized by streamlining the approval process to eliminate
the current, paper-based system and allow supervisors to approve schedules by
e-mail or through other paperless systems.
d. Savings in
this program might also be realized by conducting a Lean Kaizen review of the
program with the goal of identifying other possible improvements.
Proposal 2-16:
Introduced to Senate: 23 September 2016
Approved by Senate: 07 October 2016
Approved by Administration: 16 October
2016