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Approved by the:
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Faculty Senate - April 7, 2005
Administration - *See comments
Board of Regents - no action required
*Comment 1 - I support competitive benefits for University employees, but first have a responsibility to examine the financial implications of implementation. By way of this memorandum, I am charging Vice Presidents Carol Carrier, Richard Pfutzenreuter, and others they deem necessary to develop a cost-benefit analysis of the proposal for my review.
*Comment 2 - The administration supports core principles and objectives outlined in this resolution, and strives to provide competitive benefits for all University employees. At this point in time, the arguments in favor of this particular benefit are not persuasive as it would impact slightly less than 2% of the University's employee population in any given year, representing a markedly unequal benefit for a very small percentage of employees at a time when the University is working to provide competitive benefits that support members of the entire workforce. The President believes that our expanded scholarship initiative represents a stronger approach to supporting the University and its employees.
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Resolution on Tuition Benefits
Whereas the University of Minnesota seeks to become one of the three best
public research universities in the world, which aspiration perforce includes
the recruitment and retention of the highest-quality faculty, staff, and
students, and
Whereas the University of Minnesota, as a land grant
institution, has as one of its central missions the education of
highly-qualified undergraduate students, and
Whereas the University of
Minnesota benefits from the efforts and commitment of all of its employees,
and
Whereas University of Minnesota employees, especially as employees of
an institution of higher learning, understand the benefits of higher education
and seek to make them available to their children/dependents, and
Whereas
the University of Minnesota desires to improve the effectiveness of its
workforce and reduce employment costs by reducing employee turnover,
and
Whereas the faculty of the University of Minnesota seeks a stronger
sense of community among all employee groups, each of which contributes to the
mission of the University, and
Whereas it can be demonstrated that the
inclusion of a partial tuition remission benefit would reduce employment costs
under relatively conservative assumptions, therefore
Be it resolved
--that the Faculty Senate strongly recommends that the
children/dependents of all University employees having accrued 5 or more years
of uninterrupted University service be granted a 50% tuition reduction upon
being regularly admitted to an approved undergraduate program leading to a
bachelor's degree,
--that the tuition reduction apply for the first four
years of a child/dependent's enrollment, during periods in which the
child/dependent student is in good academic standing; and
--that the
percentage of tuition covered by the benefit increase by 10% for each additional
year of uninterrupted service through year 10.
Approved by the Faculty
Affairs Committee, March 22, 2005.
COMMENT:
This resolution
was approved by the Senate Committee on Faculty Affairs (SCFA) and the Faculty
Consultative Committee in 2000 and reported to the Faculty Senate for
information at its April 20, 2000 meeting. No tuition benefit has been offered
for dependents of University employees.
The case for the benefit, if
anything, is stronger today than it was five years ago. The competitive
pressures on the University have increased and SCFA is aware of cases where
departments have been unable to retain outstanding faculty members because the
University did not offer a tuition benefit. When most other Big Ten schools,
most private institutions, and the MNSCU institutions offer such a benefit, the
University puts itself at a disadvantage in recruiting both faculty and staff by
failing to offer it as well. Moreover, as the SCFA study at the time
demonstrated, it is likely the University will save money with such a benefit
because it will reduce staff turnover; see the attached analysis.
SCFA
urges the Faculty Senate to vote in favor of the resolution.