Officers - College Tuition Scholarship

Eligibility depends on an Officer’s hire date and years of service.

For Officers hired, rehired, appointed or promoted after July 1, 2011: You are eligible to receive a CTS for the next full term following completion of four years of continuous full-time service and meeting the other eligibility requirements as detailed above.

For Officers hired, rehired, appointed or promoted on or prior to July 1, 2011: You are eligible to receive a CTS for the next full term, without regard to a service requirement, after you meet the eligibility requirements as detailed above.

Note: To be eligible, dependent children must be age 26 or under at the time they begin matriculation for their undergraduate degree. After a child attains age 26, they must maintain matriculation status for the undergraduate degree started on or prior to age 26 to be eligible for CTS.

CTS covers tuition costs only. Fees such as health service fees, housing fees, student activity fees, laboratory fees, or books are not covered, even if the bill from the college combines them with “tuition.” If your dependent child receives awards and scholarships from other sources, the amount of the CTS will be capped at your tuition liability at the school your child attends. A CTS will never cover more than either the maximum CTS award, or what you need to cover your actual tuition costs after awards and scholarships, whichever is less.

EXAMPLE: If the tuition at both Columbia College and your child’s college is $10,000 per term, a student who has $5,000 per term in non-CTS awards and scholarships will still receive a $5,000 CTS to attend the other college; a student who has $8,000 in awards and scholarships, however, will only receive a $2,000 CTS.

If an Officer’s child is registered for an undergraduate degree at an accredited college or university other than Columbia or Barnard College and takes a term to study abroad, the courses will be eligible for coverage under the CTS if another accredited Academic institution bills the tuition costs. The term will count toward the eight-semester limit of eligibility for the CTS, unless it is a Summer Term. Third Party Study Abroad Programs, not billed through the college or university, are not covered.

The CTS program will cover a student for summer terms. This is in addition to the eight (8) semesters (or equivalent number of trimesters or quarters) already allotted, provided that the summer courses are taken after the dependent child has matriculated for the first semester of study and the summer courses are taken during those years in which the student is eligible for the eight semesters of fall or spring term CTS.

The dependent child must provide written proof from their college or university on the institution’s letterhead that they are a student in good standing, and that the summer courses are required as part of his or her academic program. (See: Student in Good Standing Letter).

Summer Terms at Columbia

In addition to CTS, dependent children of Officers and their spouses or same-sex domestic partners may be eligible for Tuition Exemption as non-matriculated students in Columbia’s Summer Session. The child must provide written proof from their college or university on their institution’s letterhead that they are a student in good standing, and that the courses must be taken as part of his or her academic program.

The child may also receive Tuition Exemption if accepted as a Visiting Student in Special Students Program during the Fall and Spring Terms. The student’s college need not grant point credit for the courses taken, and these terms do not count toward the eight-semester limit of eligibility for the CTS.

Submit application to EBPA after July 1 for the start of a new undergraduate school year.

• Document Submission Portal: To submit your tuition scholarship application, please visit the EBPA Secure Submission portal. Once this page has loaded, click Tuition Accounts, enter your information and upload the necessary documents and click SUBMIT, or
• Send via fax: 603‐773‐4425; or
• Send via mail: EBPA, P.O. Box 1140, Exeter, NH 03833‐1140.
• Register to track the status of your application with EBPA. Applications will be available for tracking 2-3 business days after they are submitted through the portal.

For application status and payment processing questions, visit https://www.ebpabenefits.com/contact-us or call EBPA customer service: 1-888-456-4576.

Processing timeframes: EBPA will review your uploaded documents within 2-3 business days to confirm completeness of the application prior to processing. CTS application processing begins after all required documentation is received and may take up to 15 business days to complete.

Involuntary Termination or Involuntary Transfer to Part-Time Employment

If you are involuntarily discharged or released, or involuntarily transferred—other than for cause—from a full-time to a part-time appointment during a term, the CTS benefit for the current term will not be revoked. However, the Officer will not be granted CTS benefits for any subsequent term.

If your employment is terminated for cause, you will be required to pay back a portion of the CTS benefit for the current term, according to the tables under Voluntary Resignation. Note that the day of the month is not relevant for this purpose. (Eligibility officially ends at the close of business on the last day of your active, full-time employment with the University.)

Voluntary Resignation or Voluntary Transfer to Part-Time Employment

If you resign, are discharged or released, or switch from a full-time to a part-time appointment during a term, you must refund to Columbia a portion of any CTS benefit received for that term. The table under “Proportion of Scholarship Retained by School Terms” outlines the portion of CTS you are entitled to retain if you leave in a given month. Note that the day of the month is not relevant for this purpose. Eligibility officially ends at the close of business on the last day of your active, full-time employment with the University.

Proportion of Scholarship Retained by School Terms - School with Three Terms

Proportion of Scholarship Retained by School Terms - School with Four Terms

Officers on any paid or unpaid leave of absence are still considered to be full-time Officers and their otherwise eligible children continue to qualify for the CTS.

If a support staff employee is promoted to an Officer after July 1, 2011, eligibility for the CTS benefit will depend on whether the new Officer has met the four-year service requirement. Full-time continuous service as support staff immediately prior to promotion counts toward the four-year service requirement before Officers’ children may qualify for CTS.

Upon the Officer’s retirement, children remain eligible for CTS benefits for which they were eligible under the terms in effect (at the time the application is submitted). To retire with this benefit, an Officer must be 55 years or older and must have completed ten (10) years of continuous benefits-eligible service after age 45.

• If a deceased Officer had completed ten (10) years of continuous benefits-eligible service at death, the otherwise eligible dependent child of the Officer, or of the Officer’s spouse or same-sex domestic partner, is eligible for a CTS under the terms in effect for active Officers at the time the application is submitted.
   
• If a deceased Officer had completed less than ten (10) years of continuous benefits-eligible service at death, the otherwise eligible dependent child may receive a CTS only to complete a degree program started before the Officer’s death.