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Fee Waiver For BCIT Courses

Important Notice

If you are a BCIT Faculty or Staff and are interested in taking one of the courses offered as part of the Associate Certificate in Polytechnic Teaching program, please connect with your manager first to ensure they approve, and then contact develop@bcit.ca to begin the registration process.

Effective April 1, 2024, any courses which are part of the Associate Certificate in Polytechnic Teaching program will be approved for tuition fee waiver regardless of which employee group you are a member of, as long as you meet the entrance requirement. Please contact develop@bcit.ca prior to submitting a completed tuition fee waiver form to Human Resources.

One of the benefits of joining BCIT is that most courses we offer are available free of charge to employees, as long as you meet the following criteria:

  • Employees must satisfy normal course prerequisites.
  • No fee-paying student can be displaced. All staff are provisional registrants until there are empty seats in an existing section.
  • Employees who are not paying tuition do not count toward the minimum number of students required to ensure that the course runs.
  • There can be no additional material or instructional costs incurred to the Institute. Employees may access these courses through Professional Development/Educational Assistance funds to pay the course fee. BCIT reserves the right to review and make final decisions on individual course waivers.
  • Should this course not be job related, the payment of the tuition by the institute will be deemed to be a taxable employee benefit. This tax benefit will be recorded on your pay stub and necessary taxes will be deducted at that time.

Eligibility

All employees of BCIT are eligible for fee waiver courses, with the following exceptions:

  • Support Staff Auxiliary positions.
  • Temporary employees, unless the term of appointment (continuous with no breaks) spans the start and end date of the course.
  • Flexible Learning Instructors, Tutors and Markers, i.e. yellow contract employees.
  • Guest Lecturers.
  • Student employees, including Challenge, Work Study, Student Association student employees, and employees hired as students under the provisions of collective agreements.
  • Contract employees.

Retirees may audit courses at no cost.

Registration

Do not register yourself for any courses you are submitting a tuition fee waiver for as this will invalidate your tuition fee waiver.

If you’re eligible, please follow this process:

  1. Please complete all information requested in Section I and Section II of the Tuition Fee Waiver form [PDF].
    1. You are now required to provide the course details before the fee waiver will be signed by Human Resources.
    2. Only check the job related box if the course is work or business related.
    3. Check Programs & Courses for part-time course schedules.
    4. Ensure your manager has signed the form prior to submitting to Human Resources.
  2. Submit the completed form to the reception desk in the Human Resources office for signature. Or email to HR@bcit.ca
  3. If you meet the criteria, HR will forward the approved form to Registration and copy you.
  4. A registration specialist will register you within three business days of the course start date. You will receive an acknowledgement form from the Registrar’s Office verifying that the course is proceeding and that you are officially registered for the course.

If you are a BCIT Retiree, in addition to the process above, please ensure that Human Resources identifies you as a Retiree on your fee waiver form. At the start of the first class, inform the Instructor that you are a retiree and are auditing the course (a final grade will not be issued).

Course cancellations

Should the course not proceed, you will be contacted by either the Registrar’s Office or the department hosting the course. You may be given the option of transferring into another course.