State Employee Tuition Fee Waiver Information

To enable the University to comply with Florida Statute 1009.265, governing the free course benefit for state employees, the following procedures are required to be followed by all state employees utilizing the free course benefit:
 

Are you a student? Before enrolling in any course, all students must apply to and be accepted by the University.  Students who have had a break in enrollment of one year must apply for and be accepted for readmission.  Admission and readmission forms are available from the Office of Admissions or on their web site at Office of Admissions.

 

Who is eligible? Employees must be full-time (1.0 FTE) in an established position (excluding OPS). PLEASE NOTE:  Employees of state universities and community colleges are not eligible for tuition-free courses. What are you eligible for? Waiver authority is granted for up to six (6) hours per semester.  Course hours in excess of six must be paid by the employee by the fee payment deadline to avoid the assessment of the late payment fee.  Students using the state employee tuition fee waiver must register for a course(s) not covered by the waiver prior to the first day of classes in order to avoid assessment of the late registration fee.  Waiver of fees is NOT authorized for the following kinds of courses:  directed studies, practicums, internships, music and theatre performance, Continuing Education, and other one-on-one course situations such as theses and dissertations. The State Employee Tuition Fee Waiver does not include Activity & Service, Athletic, and Health fees.  Therefore, access to services and events funded by these fees are not available to State Employees except as available to the general public.  More specifically, the State Employee Tuition Fee Waiver does not provide access to health services or free tickets to social, cultural, and athletic events. Students attending classes on the Pensacola campus must purchase a Nautilus Card and parking decal.

 

THE FREE COURSE BENEFIT MAY BE USED ON A SPACE AVAILABLE BASIS ONLY.  Permission to enter a closed class will not be accepted. Employees may not pre-register for courses for which they plan to use a state employee tuition fee waiver.  The waiver form will not be processed if a state employee pre-registers and then submits a state employee tuition fee waiver form for the pre-registered course(s) after the fact.

 

How do I register using a state employee tuition fee waiver? Each semester of participation you must obtain an original copy of the "Eligibility for Enrollment in Tuition Free Courses" form from your Agency's Human Resources Office.  If your agency does not have a specific form for this use, you may use the "UWF State Employee Tuition Fee Waiver and Registration Form" available on the web at uwf.edu/registrar/stateempform.pdf or from the UWF Office of the Registrar. If you don't already have the Adobe Acrobat Reader, you can get it at the following site: The original copy of the waiver form must have the original signature of the employee and the Agency Head or Designee.  Forms which are not the original or do not bear the required original signatures will be returned unprocessed to the employee.

It is the responsibility of each employee to obtain and process waiver forms through the supervisory channels within each State Agency in sufficient time to allow the waiver form to reach the Registrar's Office by the registration deadline. Failure to submit approved forms by the prescribed deadlines will result in the assessment of the late registration and/or late fee payment fee. Course number and course name must exactly match with the course(s) for which the employee is registering.  Employees will be billed the appropriate course fee for course(s) which do not match the authorized waiver form.  In such cases, appropriate late registration fees and late payment fees will be assessed to the employee.  Approved alternate courses are encouraged and must be listed on the waiver form.

 

When and where do I submit my approved tuition fee waiver and registration form?

Submit the original copy of the approved tuition fee waiver and registration form to the Office of the Registrar beginning with the first day of Priority Advance Registration through the end of the late registration/drop-add period. If you wish to register for a course requiring special departmental permission, contact the department to obtain a four-digit permission authorization code and enter it on your tuition fee waiver and registration form.  Permission authorization codes do not guarantee registration in a course. Please do not attempt to register through any other registration process.

 

When will my registration be processed?

State employee tuition fee waivers will be processed beginning the first day of classes through the end of the late registration/drop-add period.  Registration material submitted prior to this time will be held and processed on the designated day. Students will be notified by telephone or e-mail of closed classes.  State employees utilizing the tuition fee waiver can not receive permission to enter a closed class.

 

How will I know my registration has been completed?
	Students may verify his/her schedule through LightHouse (for new or returning students) or Argus (for currently enrolled students).

Questions?  call the Office of the Registrar at 474-2247 or e-mail your questions to registrar@uwf.edu