Four Reasons to Develop a Tuition Reimbursement Program
A recent survey showed that 92% of organizations offered some type of educational benefit, with 63% providing tuition assistance or reimbursement.
Organizations with tuition assistance report an increase of employee applicants of 20%, increased retention of 10-40% with a 21% increase in promotions for participants and an RoI of 129%.
Tuition assistance with organizations with shared values, like City Vision, can help ministries and nonprofits promote values-aligned employees from within.
Tuition assistance creates new opportunities to fundraise toward an "education fund" to fund scholarships for both staff and program participants.
Sources: IFEBP Education Benefits Survey, Discover Case Study and Cigna Case Study.
Case Study: St. Matthew's House & City Vision​
St. Matthew’s House is an innovative $19 million dollar rescue mission serving the poor, homeless and addicted in Naples, FL that has doubled in size over the past few years. With this growth, the leadership of St. Matthew’s realized a key strategy to remain effective and innovative is to invest heavily in the education and training of their staff through a tuition reimbursement program.Â
In the past 3 years, St. Matthew’s has had over 25 of their staff and others enroll in City Vision and one of their staff has become faculty. They also were able to attract considerable donations to their education fund to fund scholarships to staff and clients.
As a strategic partner, City Vision provides a 33% discount so tuition is only $5,000/year. Also, many of their staff have outstanding senior management experience, enabling them to accelerate their degree by getting prior learning credit for their past experience. City Vision plan to partner with St. Matthew’s to convert some of our online courses into curriculum that can be taught locally, so they could be taken by all their intensive residential recovery programs participants.Â
“The partnership with City Vision has been one of the most important factors to equip our team to minister to the needs of the poor. Without this partnership, we wouldn’t be nearly as effective serving our most vulnerable neighbors.”
– Rev. Vann Ellison, President, St. Matthew’s HouseHow to Partner with City Vision in Our Tuition Reimbursement Program
Complete the inquiry form above to be contacted by our team with information and next steps in partnering.
Develop (or update) your tuition reimbursement program for your employees and list City Vision as a recommended partner.
City Vision will provide a scholarship to your employees so tuition will only cost $500/course or $5,000/year for undergraduate and graduate programs (for organizations referring 2+ students annually).
We will collaborate to inform your employees and answer any questions they might have.
Tuition Reimbursement Best Practices & Templates
Best Practices for Policies & Procedures
- Define which employees are eligible for tuition reimbursement
- Consider whether to make having a passing grade (or a B) on a course a condition of eligibility for reimbursement
- Provide a process or form to require approval
- Determine what will happen if an employee leaves early
Ensuring Educational Benefits are Tax Deductable
- Educational benefits are limited to $5,250/year unless required for job
- The plan cannot favor highly paid employees
- You must give reasonable notice of the program to eligible employees
- Employees can't receive cash or other benefits instead of education assistance
- The educational benefit must relate to the employer's business