As a college staff member, Heater gets deeply discounted tuition at the private Marianist Catholic college with approximately 8,000 undergraduate students.
She compared universities in her area and their benefits and decided on University of Dayton, which offers tuition benefits for staff workers and their dependents.
Washington said that workers and their dependents can also use a tuition exchange program, which allows them to transfer their tuition benefits within a pool of participating schools.
For instance, once the tuition benefit exceeds the IRS' guidelines of $5,250 annually, the rest is generally considered taxable income.
She said she thinks a lack of awareness about tuition benefits programs keeps them from being more popular.
Persons:
Ariel Skelley, Troy Washington, Washington, Jacob Channel, Sherry Kirkland, Kirkland
Organizations:
Digitalvision, Getty, University of Dayton, Catholic, University of Dayton's, College and University Professional, for Human Resources, Wilmington University
Locations:
Ohio, Delaware