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All employees with regular employment status, beginning work on or after January 1, 1992, who meet all admission requirements established by the university are covered under this policy. Employees hired before January 1, 1992 are grandfathered under a prior policy.
Work Schedule
A staff member must be working at least 30 hours a week, for 12 months of the year (1,560 hours per year); and a faculty member must be under full-time contract (75% or more).
Service Time
Eligibility begins at one year of service.
Employee status is determined as of the first day of class, in any session. Should employee status be lost due to resignation during a semester or other session, that session may be completed with the tuition waiver benefit intact. If employee status is lost due to involuntary termination of employment, tuition waiver benefits for enrolled students may be extended to the end of the academic year (end of spring semester), with the approval of the division vice president and Senior Director of Human Resources.
Employees coming to Biola directly from other institutions of higher learning will be given eligibility credit for their continuous years of full-time service at those institutions.
Eligibility for Spouse or Dependent Child Waiver
Persons who qualify are the employee's spouse and any children who are dependent children, as defined by the Internal Revenue Service (dependents are those who receive over 50% of their financial support from the employee and are claimed as dependents on the employee's federal income tax form; dependent children age 24 and over must earn less than $3,200 per year from all sources). Spouse and dependents must meet all admission requirements established by the university.
Dependent status is determined as of the first day of class in any session. Should dependent status be lost during a semester or other session, that semester or session may be completed as though the student were still a dependent. All dependents who are eligible for state scholarship aid must apply for California Grant "A" aid, prior to requesting tuition waiver. The granted tuition waiver benefit is limited to the difference between the scheduled Biola tuition and the total amount of Cal Grant aid, Biola Scholarships, and other institutional aid. Failure to make application for the Cal Grant will result in the benefit being reduced by an amount equal to the maximum Cal Grant.
Application Fee
There is a discounted application fee of $15 for the employee, spouse, or dependent child who applies for admission to a Biola educational program, under the tuition waiver benefit.
General Schedule of Benefits
The tuition waiver covers a percentage of basic on-campus tuition costs only. It does not include any fees associated with a course such as lab fees; charges for private lessons; registration fees such as late, add, and drop fees; enrollment and/or housing deposits; or any expenses incurred by Biola for students to participate in off-campus special programs. Also, the waiver does not apply to the cost of textbooks, the cost of travel, or other expenses associated with a course. At a 100% waiver, a charge of $20/unit is applied for classes taken during Interterm and summer school.
The employee personal use tuition waiver can be applied to undergraduate, master’s, and doctoral programs and to the BOLD program. The spouse tuition waiver can only be applied to the undergraduate and master's programs and to the BOLD program. The dependent child tuition waiver can only be applied to the undergraduate program.
Tuition waiver students are not counted toward the minimum class size requirements. Therefore, courses may be cancelled when the number of non-waiver students does not reach minimum enrollment requirements.
Personal Use Undergraduate, Master’s, or Doctoral Tuition Waivers
The following tuition waivers apply to all employees:
| 1 Year of Service | 2 Years of Service | 5 Years of Service | |
| Per Semester | 80% of 3 units | 80% of 6 units | 100% of 6 units |
| Interterm | 80% of 3 units | 80% of 4 units | 100% of 4 units |
| Summer | 80% of 3 units | 80% of 6 units | 100% of 6 units |
The maximum number of undergraduate units (either covered by the tuition waiver or not) that an employee can take in any semester or other session is 6 units. Were an employee to take 7 units or more, employee status would be lost and student status would be gained, resulting in the termination of tuition waiver eligibility. However, the number of graduate units that an employee takes in any semester, or the number of units taken per session while enrolled in the BOLD program, have no effect on employee status.
At the discretion of an employee's department head, one course may be taken during working hours. If the employee’s supervisor requires the course, the time missed from work will be paid. If the course is an employee elective, but is deemed by the supervisor to be directly related to the employee's job, the department head may, at his/her discretion, approve paid time off. If an elective course is not found to be directly related to the employee's job, the time off work will not be paid. At the supervisor's discretion, the employee may be required or may be allowed to make up the missed work time within that pay period.
Spouse Undergraduate Tuition or Master’s Program Waivers
For a regular employee working at least 30 hours/week, for at least 12 months, the maximum allowable units waived will follow the personal use chart for employees, even though the waiver is taken for the spouse's privilege.
The following applies for spouses of all employees:
| 1 Year of Service | 2 Years of Service | 3 Years of Service | 4 Years of Service | 5 Years of Service | |
| Per Semester* | 80% of 3 units | 80% of 6 units | 80% of 9 units | 80% of 18 units | 100% of 18 units |
| Interterm | 80% of 3 units | 80% of 4 units | 80% of 4 units | 80% of 4 units | 100% of 4 units |
| Summer | 80% of 3 units | 80% of 6 units | 80% of 9 units | 80% of 9 units | 100% of 9 units |
*A maximum of 16 units at Rosemead.
Dependent Child Undergraduate Tuition Waivers
The following applies to dependents of all employees:
| 1 Year of Service | 2 Years of Service | 3 Years of Service | 4 Years of Service | 5 Years of Service | |
| Per Semester* | 80% of 3 units | 80% of 6 units | 80% of 9 units | 80% of 18 units | 100% of 18 units |
| Interterm | 80% of 3 units | 80% of 4 units | 80% of 4 units | 80% of 4 units | 100% of 4 units |
| Summer | 80% of 3 units | 80% of 6 units | 80% of 9 units | 80% of 9 units | 80% of 9 units |
*A maximum of 16 units at Rosemead.
Personal/Spouse/Dependent BOLD Program Tuition Waivers
The following tuition waivers are available per eligible person:
| 1 Year of Service | 2 Years of Service | 3 Years of Service | 4 Years of Service | 5 Years of Service | |
| Per Session | 80% of 3 units | 80% of 6 units | 80% of 9 units | 80% of 15 units | 100% of 15 units |
The enrollment of tuition waiver students may be limited by the level of regular, full-tuition enrollment in the BOLD program.
Audit
Courses may be audited under the tuition waiver program, subject to the approval of the instructor.
Benefit Continuation
Spouse/Dependent of Deceased Employee
The currently enrolled spouse/dependent of an employee who dies while employed at Biola University will continue to be eligible for the same percentage and number of tuition waiver units they are currently receiving, until the present degree being pursued is completed and continuous enrollment is maintained.
A spouse or dependents not currently enrolled at Biola will receive undergraduate 100% tuition waiver units, according to the following schedule of consecutive years of full-time employment by the deceased employee:
| 6 Years of Service | 8 Years of Service | 10 Years of Service | |
| Per Semester* | 100% of 6 units | 100% of 9 units | 100% of 18 units |
| Interterm | 100% of 4 units | 100% of 4 units | 100% of 4 units |
| Summer | 100% of 6 units | 100% of 9 units | 100% of 9 units |
*A maximum of 16 units per semester at Rosemead.
Should a spouse remarry or dependent children marry, while receiving tuition waiver credit, the waiver will continue through the end of the session during which the marriage occurs and then cease.
Retired Employee
An employee who retires at age 60 or older, with a minimum of 10 years of service, will be eligible to receive up to 6 units of personal use undergraduate or graduate tuition waiver per session.
Tuition Waiver Exchange Programs
Biola is a member of two educational associations that allow tuition waiver-eligible employees to seek reciprocal tuition scholarships for dependents at participating undergraduate institutions. The Coalition of Christian Colleges and Universities offers the Tuition Waiver Exchange Program (TWEP), with over 80 private Christian institutions participating. Students desiring to be considered for a tuition waiver at a participating institution must apply for admission to that institution as well as apply for the TWEP through Biola’s Office of Enrollment Management. As each participating institution has its own decision schedule, a January 1 deadline is advised. The Tuition Exchange (TE) is a non-profit, educational association that provides tuition waiver-eligible employees the opportunity for reciprocal tuition scholarships in undergraduate programs, at approximately 550 private and public institutions. Employees interested in pursuing the TE for a dependent should notify Biola’s Office of Enrollment Management no later than January 1 of the year the student is to enter college. A complete list of participating institutions can be found at www.tuitionexchange.org.
