By Erich Wagner
The Office of Personnel Management announced last week that it has reached agreement with three universities to join a programme whereby federal employees can continue their education at discounted tuition rates.
The Federal Academic Alliance is a programme offering scholarships and reduced tuition for federal employees, particularly in disciplines where agencies encounter skills gaps in their workforces, like acquisition; human resources; financial auditing; economics; information technology; and science, technology, engineering and math. Some of the 26 schools involved in the program also offer reduced tuition and scholarships for feds’ spouses and dependents.
Effectively immediately, Florida Institute of Technology, Rosemont College, and Villanova University’s colleges of Professional Studies and Liberal Arts and Sciences have joined the programme.
“OPM has entered into academic agreements with [these schools] as part of OPM’s continued effort to address critical skills gaps in mission critical occupations, increase federal employees’ access to high-quality, affordable educational resources, and further develop and retain the federal workforce,” wrote OPM associate director for employee services, Rob Shriver.
Florida Institute of Technology will offer federal employees, their spouses and dependents a 10 per cent tuition discount for undergraduate and graduate online degree programs, and will waive application fees.
Rosemont College offers a 56 per cent discount on undergraduate programs and a 50 per cent discount on graduate programmes to all federal employees and their families, including spouses, children, siblings, parents, grandparents and grandchildren. Application fees will be waived.
Villanova offers a 10 per cent discount on online and on-campus certificate programs and other non-credit courses, along with a 5 per cent tuition discount for online graduate degree programmes, and the school will waive application fees for the online Masters in Public Administration and Masters in Human Resources Development programs. The offer is available to federal employees, and their spouses and dependents.
In a statement, Rosemont College President Jayson Boyers highlighted the importance of aligning employers and schools to improve federal workers’ professional development.
“Rosemont’s mission is to create a community of lifelong learners,” he said. “By expanding our career-focused programmes, we’re excited to give federal employees access to high-quality talent development opportunities in mission-critical occupations. Whether they want to complete an unfinished degree or start a new program, we will be there to support them every step of the way as they advance their careers.”
