New Online Application Simplifies Tuition Remission Process

Thanks to a collaborative, multi-department effort, Duquesne employees now have access to a new, easy-to-use online application to complete the tuition-remission process.

Duquesne offers a tuition remission benefit to attend the University to all eligible full-time, non-temporary employees, their spouses and their dependent children as well as to certain part-time employees.

The new Tuition Remission Form is available for the fall 2021, spring 2022 and summer 2022 semesters. The new process includes email confirmations after an individual’s form is received and processed.

Previously, the University used a PDF-based application that individuals completed and sent to the Office of Human Resources.

Charged with thinking of bigger goals regarding the tuition remission process, a group of problem-solvers from the Office of Computing and Technology Services (CTS), the Office of Human Resources and the Office of Financial Aid worked on the new application project. The team who worked on the two-month project include:

  • John Falleroni, interim director, Office of Financial Aid
  • Karen Kiedaisch, assistant director, CTS web support team
  • Patricia Lee, benefits manager, Office of Human Resources
  • Jeremy Mayernik, associate director, Office of Financial Aid
  • Donna Steed, director of benefits, Office of Human Resources
  • Alison Wojcik, assistant director, Office of Financial Aid
  • Ryan Usher, web application systems analyst.

“We created an online version of the application that has a workflow that sends the information to the human resources office to process and then to the financial aid office to process their portion,” said Usher, who is a member of the web team in the Administrative Applications Group. “Users receive updates throughout the process via email, and they also receive a final confirmation email when the benefit has been processed.”

In the past, users weren’t notified when the benefit was processed. Instead, they had to repeatedly check their student account balance to see if the benefit was applied.

Feedback on the new application has been positive

Patricia Lee
Patricia Lee

“We received more than 50 applications on the day that the campus announcement was sent about the new and improved application,” Lee said. “We’ve received positive feedback about the ease of using the online application, which has streamlined the overall process.”

Lee added that the new application provides improved communication between the financial aid and benefits offices.

“Overall, it was very rewarding to be able to transform a manual process into a more dynamic, user-friendly and transparent one for both the applicant as well as those responsible for processing the benefit,” Usher said.