UW News

May 20, 2004

Benefits in spotlight: Tuition waiver, peer comparison, long-term care on agenda of council

Editor’s note: This is one of a series of columns by the chairs of Faculty Senate councils and committees. Patricia Brandt is the chair of the Faculty Council on Retirement, Insurance and Benefits.


As salaries at the University continue to be a challenge, benefits are an increasingly important part of the total compensation package for all UW employees. The Faculty Council on Retirement, Insurance & Benefits (FCRIB) is a committee of the UW Faculty Senate that operates in the interest of faculty and staff in a model of shared governance. Our committee includes representatives from a wide range of faculty, professional staff, librarians, retirees and central administration. During this year, I have served as chair of FCRIB. I am a professor in the Family Child Nursing Department, School of Nursing.

FCRIB has had 3 major foci this year: tuition waivers, peer benefits comparison and long term care insurance. Subcommittees on FCRIB were led by Jim Whittaker, professor of social work (long-term care), Steve Demorest, associate professor, music (tuition waivers) and David Dugdale, associate professor, medicine (peer comparisons).

Tuition Waiver Benefit: FCRIB began this initiative during this year. A proposal has been developed and is currently being reviewed for budgetary implications. The proposal would allow children and spouses/partners of UW staff and faculty to obtain a 50 percent tuition benefit for full student status. Admittance to the University programs would continue through standard guidelines. After the budget review is complete the next step in the process is to work with several UW committees such as the Senate Executive, Human Resources, ALUW, and the Professional Staff Organization to complete the proposed program development.

Peer Benefits Comparison: FCRIB is collaborating with central administration and the benefits office to: 1) increase the knowledge of faculty and staff of available benefits and, 2) obtain benchmarking data about salary and benefits through a consortium of institutions. We are currently working on scenarios that will go on the Web to indicate the typical benefits to consider at each time period in one’s work life. Benchmarking will include collection of peer data and evaluation of how to provide access to this data to the campus community.

Long-term care insurance: FCRIB completed a comprehensive analysis of critical features essential for a long-term group policy and is working with the Health Care Authority (HCA), State of Washington in its review of potential vendors. We have encouraged a liberal open enrollment provision for any new contract for state workers. See www. washington.edu/admin/hr/benefits/ltc.resources.html for information about critical features of long term care policies. Marita Berg, UW SHIBA coordinator, has been instrumental in developing this web resource.

FCRIB encourages faculty to volunteer to serve on this Council next year. We are hoping to broaden our diversity in membership. The activism that has been central to FCRIB over the years will be further strengthened by having representation that is diverse.