Employee Waivers

Employee tuition waivers are available to employees of UNC-Chapel Hill, UNC Health, and other UNC System campuses under certain conditions in accordance with UNC-Chapel Hill’s tuition waiver policies. Employees of other UNC System campuses should seek assistance from their campus Human Resources office on specific procedures and forms for using this benefit.

The University waives tuition on a limited number of courses for employees. As a waiver, this benefit allows employees to take courses free of charge. It is not a monetary credit to the student account. If the employee chooses to take additional courses, the resulting tuition is calculated based on the credit hours taken in addition to free courses.

Procedure

Employees using the tuition waiver benefit should review their planned schedules for each academic year to determine the best way to use the tuition waiver benefit for each semester.

When using a tuition waiver, it is only beneficial financially, to use a tuition waiver if the total credit hours after the waiver has been applied is less than full time enrollment listed below.

Full Time Enrollment

Undergraduates = 12 Credit Hours

Graduates = 9 Credit Hours

A fee waiver may still be applied, but it may be better to use the tuition waiver in a semester where your enrollment is less than full time.

When submitting a tuition waiver, the mandatory student fees are automatically waived and a separate fee waiver is not needed.

Courses Not Covered

Courses such as the Executive MBA program, MBA@UNC, MPA@UNC, MPH@UNC, MAC Online, Kenan-Flagler Data Analytics Certificate program, or study abroad courses that are primarily receipt-supported are not covered by the Tuition Waiver Program.

Noncredit courses offered through the Friday Center for Continuing Education are not covered by Tuition Waiver.

Employees seeking a waiver should confirm whether the tuition waiver applies to the particular program or school offering the course(s) of interest by contacting that program office directly. Not all coursework is eligible for the tuition waiver.

Summer Session Courses at UNC-Chapel Hill

Only available for UNC-Chapel Hill and UNC Health employees enrolled at UNC-Chapel Hill. A tuition waiver may be applied to one summer session course per academic year. This waiver counts as one of the three courses per academic year that can be approved for tuition waiver.

Course Fees

Tuition waiver will also waive all mandatory student fees for the academic term, even if additional courses not covered under the tuition waiver program are taken the same term. Tuition waiver does not apply to other course-related expenses such as laboratory, material, program, registration, or travel fees.

Additional Coursework

An employee may enroll in more than one University course during a single academic term. The Cashier’s Office of the institution at which the employee is enrolled will apply the tuition waiver per the guidelines established by that office. Any tuition costs for the academic term that are not covered under the Tuition Waiver Program remain the responsibility of the employee.

Taxability

Tuition waived is considered reportable taxable compensation subject to social security, federal and state tax withholding if the value of the benefit exceeds the IRS established limits. Depending upon prevailing tax laws, for each calendar year, the tuition benefit amount over the IRS threshold will be reported as income on the employee’s W-2 form.

To ensure that you are not taxed for your tuition waiver benefit at the nonresident tuition rates unnecessarily, please see the University Registrar’s policy on the Employee Tuition Benefit and submit the Residence Status Supplemental form.

A person who is a full-time employee of The University of North Carolina, or is the spouse or dependent child of a full-time employee of The University of North Carolina and who is a legal resident of North Carolina, qualifies as a resident for tuition purposes without having maintained that legal residence for at least 12 months immediately prior to his or her classification as a resident for tuition purposes.

• If you, or your spouse is a full-time employee, not a Teacher’s Assistant, Research Assistant, Post-Doc, or Resident/Fellow of the UNC System, you may qualify for the employee tuition benefit.
• UNC Health employees also qualify.

Note: you must be continuously employed during your enrollment in order to receive this benefit.