Tuition Assistance Program Puts Harvard Employees in Class

Christine B. Noyer, a staff assistant in Harvard's Office of Human Resources, didn't take her job with the University because of the pay or the hours.

Instead, she was attracted by a perk that only an employer like Harvard could offer--the chance to take classes at Harvard schools at a reduced cost.

The University's Tuition Assistance Program (TAP) allows Harvard employees to take classes at the Extension School and graduate programs including the Divinity School at a fraction of the normal tuition.

For instance, employees enrolled through TAP pay only a $40 flat fee for courses at the extension school, which can normally range in price from $400 to $1,200 apiece.

For students like Noyer, that makes Harvard an attractive employer.

"[TAP] was one of the things that really interested me about joining Harvard," she says.

According to Joanne C. Doherty, the director of employment and training at Harvard's Office of Human Resources, 3,000 employees--about half the size of the undergraduate population at Harvard--enroll in the program each year.

"Everyone in my row [at work] has done it," says Noyer.

The university spends almost $5,000,000 a year sending its employees to school, which Doherty says is a testament to the University's commitment to their employees.

Most employees on the permanent university payroll who have been working at Harvard for several months are eligible for the TAP program.

TAP participants usually take classes in the Extension School to accommodate their work schedules. They are only allowed to be part-time students at any school paid for TAP.

The program is not open to employees who are out-sourced to other companies.

"It's a great benefit, a great recruiting and retention tool in a tight labor market," says Doherty.

Susan E. Bochnak, a staff assistant at the extension school, is working towards her Master's degree in dramatic arts through TAP, and hopes to teach theatre when she graduates.

This semester, she's taking a course taught by Lecturer on Dramatic Arts Jeremy Geidt.

"He's amazing," she says. "That's what's nice about being able to take classes while you're working at Harvard. You can still have access to excellent professors."

In addition, the program's small fees--employees enrolling in the program typically pay only 10 percent of the cost of courses--gives many people access to a Harvard education who would not ordinarily be able to afford it, said Assistant Dean of Continuing Education L. Dodge Fernald.

He recalled a Harvard electrician without much formal education who got a Ph.D. through TAP, and then went on to teach in the extension school.

"She kind of thought, 'Hey, there's some education to be had here,' and TAP paid for it," Fernald says.

Among the most popular classes taken through TAP, says Doherty, are classes at the Extension School which teach English as a second language.

Patricia C. Machado, who works as an I.D. checker in Adams House dining hall, estimates that about a quarter of the full-time staff at the dining hall have taken English classes through TAP.

Machado, whose husband works in the Pforzheimer dining hall, says the promise of inexpensive English classes and long summer vacations led her to work at Harvard when she first moved to the U.S. from Portugal nine years ago.