New Perk Gives Federal Employees a Break on the Cost of Education

Many federal employees and their family members will be able to take advantage of a tuition discount as part of a new partnership between the government and academia.

Federal workers who live outside of Maryland can receive a 25 percent discount on all undergraduate and most graduate programs offered at the University of Maryland University College. Out-of-state tuition rates at UMUC now are $499 per credit hour for undergraduate classes and $659 per credit hour for graduate programs. The rates drop to $374.25 and $494.25 respectively, with the 25 percent discount. Federal workers’ spouses and their legal dependents also are eligible for the reduced rates. The tuition break applies to in-person and online classes.

Maryland residents who matriculate at UMUC currently receive a reduced in-state tuition rate of $266 per credit hour for undergraduate classes and $458 per credit hour for most graduate programs.

The new discount for federal workers who live outside of Maryland does not apply to the MBA, cybersecurity, digital forensics and cyber investigations, data analytics, executive and doctoral programs, according to information posted on UMUC’s website.

The alliance between the Office of Personnel Management and the school is an effort “to increase federal employees’ access to high quality, affordable educational resources, to close skills gaps and to make federal employment attractive to our nation’s top talent,” wrote OPM Director Katherine Archuleta in an April 17 memo to agency human capital officers.

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