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Employee Reduced Tuition Benefits

Both the Employee Reduced Tuition Plan and Enhanced Employee Reduced Tuition Plan provide financial assistance to full-time, benefits eligible Northwestern employees. This assistance can be applied toward the cost of undergraduate or graduate courses taken at the University, as well as non-credit, on-campus Professional Development Programs through the School of Professional Studies. 

Please note that the Employee Reduced Tuition Plan is subject to income tax withholdings of up to 37.6% of the value of the tuition you incur over $5,250 per calendar year.  Please see the Tuition Taxation website for more information.

As shown in the table below, the Employee Reduced Tuition Plan provides a maximum of $12,000 each calendar year; the Enhanced Employee Reduced Tuition Plan has no maximum. Eligibility for the Enhanced Employee Reduced Tuition Plan is based on years of benefit-eligible service and salary.  Review the Employee Reduced Quick Reference document for additional information.

 

Employee Reduced Tuition

Enhanced Employee Reduced Tuition

Plan ID

ER

EER

Employment Status

Full-time, benefits-eligible

Full-time, benefits-eligible, actively working and on the University payroll

Years of Service

No requirement

At least 3 years of continuous, full-time, benefits-eligible service

Salary*

No requirement

Have a salary of less than $100K gross annually**

Benefit

90% Reduced Tuition

90% Reduced Tuition

Annual Limit

$12,000

No limit

*Salary is base pay only, which includes faculty administrative commitments, and excludes bonus, add pays, etc.
**Once salary reaches $100,000 an employee who participated in the EER benefit in the term in which their salary reached $100,000 or the term immediately before reaching $100,000 will have a grace period of 6 months to continue using EER.  Then the employee becomes eligible for ER which has a $12,000 annual cap.  The ER annual cap will be calculated using all benefits paid since the start of the calendar year, which includes benefits paid through EER.

Reminders

Deadline Reminder

Applications for courses taken in a calendar year (1/1 through 12/31, not Fiscal or Academic Year) must be submitted by December 15 of the year in which the courses are taken, to ensure there is enough time to process applications and apply calculate any taxes you owe.  Only one application is required per calendar year (1/1 through 12/31, not Fiscal or Academic Year).  This means if you have already applied for a prior term in the calendar year, you do not need to submit another application for the same calendar year (1/1 through 12/31, not Fiscal or Academic Year).  Please note that applications submitted in the following calendar year for classes taken in the prior calendar year will not be accepted. 

These user guides are available to assist you with processing your Employee Reduced or Enhanced Employee Reduced application.

Getting started

  1. Determine the course of study or program in which you would like to participate. A list of some eligible Northwestern programs can be found in the Professional Development section of our website.
  2. Apply for and be accepted into the program.
  3. Register for your courses.
  4. Pay Student 10% of the total tuition.
  5. Apply for the tuition benefit. See step-by-step guide.
  6. Enter the year for the first term of the calendar year (not academic year).

Allowable expenses

This benefit is for undergraduate and graduate level courses taken at Northwestern University and billed through CAESAR. The benefit is limited to tuition only. A list of some eligible Northwestern programs can be found in the Professional Development section of our website. Benefit Payments Approved Employee Reduced Tuition Benefits will be applied directly to the employee's CAESAR account.

Benefit payments

Approved employee reduced tuition benefits will be applied directly to the employee's CAESAR account.

Certification

By submitting an application, you are agreeing to the following statement: I certify that the information provided is correct.  I agree to comply with the provisions of the Northwestern Tuition Benefits plan as described in the plan document.  I agree to pay, at the latest, by the due date on my student account for all tuition, fees and other related educational costs that are not covered by this benefit plan. I acknowledge that all applicable taxes will be taken from my paycheck(s), in accordance with IRS regulations. (For student account questions, contact Student Finance. For questions about taxation, contact Payroll.)

Frequency 

One online application (apply by logging in to myHR) is required per benefit plan for each calendar year (Jan - Dec) of study.  Use this step-by-step guide for assistance applying.

Documentation

For employee reduced tuition, you will need to collect the following information: