University of Chicago Laboratory Schools Tuition Remission

 

To: Faculty, Other Academic Appointees, and Benefits-Eligible Staff

From: Daniel Diermeier, Provost, and Daniel Abebe, Vice Provost

Subject: University of Chicago Laboratory Schools Tuition Remission

Date: October 24, 2019

 

We are pleased to announce an enhancement to the tuition remission policy for University of Chicago Laboratory Schools for eligible University-affiliated families. This policy was informed by the recommendations from two working groups involving faculty and staff, who studied issues related to K-12 education and provided valuable input.

 

Effective for the 2020-21 academic year, we are significantly increasing the tuition remission benefit for families who earn less than $250,000 a year. In addition, all families who have more than one dependent child at Lab will receive a sibling discount—regardless of income level.

 

The specific changes are:

 

For families with total incomes less than $250,000, the family share of tuition will be 6.4 percent of annual adjusted gross income (AGI) for the first child. For administrative purposes, families will be assigned to narrower $5,000 AGI brackets and pay 6.4 percent of the mean of the bracket. For example, a family earning $94,000 annually would be assigned to the $90,000-$95,000 bracket and pay 6.4 percent of $92,500 for their first child at Lab. This change will benefit the majority of eligible families and is intended to eliminate situations in which a faculty or staff member who earns a raise is moved into a higher income bracket with significantly less tuition remission, negating the net benefit of the raise. Click here for more information.

 

Families earning over $250,000 per year will continue to receive the current 50 percent tuition remission. Previously, the maximum threshold was $200,000. This means more families will be able to benefit from the new tuition remission policy.

 

All families, regardless of income level, with more than one child in the Laboratory Schools will receive a discount of $2,000 per additional child.

 

Here is an example of how the new policy will benefit families: Under the current policy, a faculty or staff member with two children in Laboratory Schools and a household AGI of $109,000 would receive 60 percent tuition remission and pay $14,381 per child. Under the new policy, they would pay $6,880 for the oldest child (6.4 percent of $107,500, the median of their income bracket) and $4,880 for the second child (reflecting the $2,000 sibling discount), which in total is less than what they currently pay for just one child.

 

Lab continues to have a separate need-based financial aid program and offers financial assistance to qualified families, regardless of University affiliation. University faculty, OAAs, and staff are not required to pay the financial aid application fee. To arrange for a fee waiver, please email financialaid@ucls.uchicago.edu before applying for aid.

 

These changes reflect the University’s ongoing commitment to providing high-quality benefits to attract and retain world-class faculty and staff. We would like to thank the working groups that dedicated significant time and effort to developing recommendations that informed this new policy.

 

For more information, visit the Benefits section of the Human Resources website. If you have questions, please contact the Shared Services desk at (773) 702-5800.