Employee Assembly Education Committee

Employee Education Committee Meeting Minutes 12/16/2009

Present

Cili Phillips (Chair), Heidi Ingram, Tina Henry, Kristen Ciferri

In preparation for reviewing the educational policy, the committee brainstormed a series of questions and issues to help begin the process. These are listed below.

Release time

Phd vs other degrees? Is release time policies spelled out? What about holding a position open while an employee completes their residency requirements or needs to be off campus to attend classes in another college?

Tuition issues

Reimbursement rates for 2 and 4 year colleges, credit hour, Cornell vs other credits, degree vs non-degree; Are there partnership arrangements with other colleges (ie Elmira for example?) and if so, what do they entail?

Child Benefit

Taxes, which colleges are not eligible, reimbursement rates in regard to Pell and Tap?

Communication

Is the benefit widely understood and accessible to all employees?

University policy

What changes, if any, are in the works that the committee should know about? According to an email from Maureen Brull,

“The only change that occurred is that as of July 1, 2009, if an employee had eligibility for the Cornell Children’s Tuition Scholarship (CCTS) Program, or Employee Degree Program (EDP) or Tuition Aid or Extramural, and their hours were reduced to part time, whether it was done by the department or by the employee, the employee would retain the benefit at the full time level. Also, as of July 1, 2009, if an employee becomes eligible for CCTS in the middle of an academic semester, they begin their eligibility as of the following semester.”

The Employee Education Committee will meet every 1st and 3rd Thursday of the month. Because of winter break and the holiday, the next meeting is scheduled for January 21st.

In preparation for the next meeting, the committee will review the current policies (link below) in advance.

http://www.ohr.cornell.edu/benefits/educational/index.html