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Dependent children of eligible full-time and regular part-time employees who have completed three years of service in their employment category may receive a cash grant to help defray undergraduate tuition costs at an accredited college or university of the child's choice. The cash grant is awarded only to those students enrolled in a full-time undergraduate academic program leading to an associate or baccalaureate degree. If you have any questions about the accreditation of the institution your child has selected or the type of program in which the student intends to enroll, you are encouraged to contact Human Resources before enrollment takes place.

"Tuition" is defined as the basic cost of attending an institution in order to gain credit for academic work done during a given year. It will not include additional assessments for correlated special programs at another institution, nor fees charged for special or individual instruction, nor room, board or other student fees.

The cash grant may not exceed the actual cost of the tuition of the institution attended. No cash grant shall exceed two-thirds of the Sarah Lawrence College base tuition. Any tuition award, grant, scholarship, or other financial aid that reduces the tuition charge below the employee's cash grant will result in the cash grant being adjusted to the level of the remaining tuition. In no case will the total of the cash grant and the tuition assistance exceed the tuition charge. In some cases the cash grant may reduce the amount of financial aid awarded by the college attended; such policy is under the control of the college attended, not Sarah Lawrence.

Documentation Requirements

To receive the cash grant, the employee must submit documentation from the institution attended, including an itemized tuition bill showing the student's tuition charges for the applicable academic term and any institutional grants, scholarships, or tuition assistance applied to the student's account. The documentation must identify the student, institution, academic term, and tuition charges. The College reserves the right to request additional documentation necessary to verify eligibility and determine the appropriate cash grant amount.

A description of the calculation of the cash grant amount is available in the Human Resources Department.

For eligible employees who were employed before June 1, 2013, calculation is based on years of service. For eligible employees who were employed on or after June 1, 2013 or who were not eligible prior to June 1, 2013, the full grant is $10,000 per year.

Dependent children of regular part-time employees will be eligible for a prorated cash grant. This proration will be calculated as the average of the employee's work schedule during the three years prior to the semester that the benefit is extended. Dependent children of eligible part-time employees who change to permanent full-time status receive no less than 75% of the full award during the intermediate time until completion of three years of uninterrupted full-time service. They may receive more than 75% of the full award during this time if their previous schedule so dictates.

The employee must have met the three-year service requirement prior to the first effective semester for which payment is due, and must have worked three consecutive full-time years immediately prior to the commencement of the benefit. A break in service of less than one year will not deter eligibility, provided the employee otherwise meets the three-year waiting period.

Cash grants for children of employees are awarded to the dependent child, not the employee. Therefore, if a child has two parents employed by Sarah Lawrence College, this does not affect the educational benefit awarded to the child.

A dependent child is defined as a child who receives more than one-half support from the employee and is claimed as a dependent for federal income tax purposes, unless otherwise required by applicable law. As proof of dependency, a copy of the "Filing Status" section of the employee's Federal Income Tax return must be attached to the education benefit application. To prove dependency for a child of an employee and their domestic partner—where the employee may not claim the child as a dependent on the federal tax return, or for a child of the employee and their same sex spouse who may not file joint tax returns according to federal regulations, the child must be claimed as a dependent on the named domestic partner or spouse’s tax return, in each year of the tuition benefit.

Cash Grant benefits will be extended to the dependent children of an employee who has completed ten years of eligible service with the College and who dies or becomes totally disabled while in active service with the College and whose child is receiving the benefit at the time of death or disability, or is at least a senior in high school at the time of death or disability. This extension of benefits will be administered according to the general cash grant policy explained in the Cash Grant section and using the same benefit calculation as the employee was entitled to prior to the retirement or death. The amount of the grant will be based on the employee's schedule of employment during the employee's years of active service and the date of hire or the date of first eligibility.