Columbia University Student Financial Services

The Tuition Exemption Benefit Program is offered for both Officers and Support Staff, so that you and your family members may take courses at Columbia.  The Tuition Exemption Benefit Program pays tuition costs, depending on your eligibility, for undergraduate and graduate courses at Columbia University, Barnard College, and Teachers College. 

Note that this is not a reimbursement or remission program; your tuition is simply exempted. However, you are responsible for course fees, textbooks and residence fees, where applicable.

Student Financial Services will only process tuition exemption benefits based on the student’s eligibility.  Eligibility is determined by Human Resources.  More information is available on the Human Resources website.  

Taxation on Graduate Courses
Tuition exemption benefits for graduate courses are taxable under IRS regulations unless these courses are job-related.  If you are an eligible employee taking graduate courses that are job-related and not leading toward a doctoral degree, please submit the Job-Related Graduate Course Certification Application to Student Financial Services.

Eligible employees are entitled to take up to $5,250 worth of graduate coursework per calendar year without being taxed.  Employees are always taxed on the graduate coursework of their eligible family members.  The $5,250 cap does not apply to these family members.

For more information on Taxation for Officers, please refer to this HR website. For more information on Taxation for Support Staff, please refer to this HR website.

Deductions are taken directly from the employee’s paycheck and spread out evenly over the following pay periods:

Fall term: October, November, December, and January
Spring term: February, March, April, and May
Summer term: June, July, August, and September

If you have additional questions about taxation, please contact the Payroll office.