Skip to main content

Opening Doors to Higher Education

Duke's children tuition benefits sends 3,430 employee children to college

Veronica Suitt, right, works with classmate Alicia Thompson at Peace College.

It was a student's worst nightmare. After gaining the attention of his class, Peace College English Professor Charles Duncan slyly announced a pop quiz on three stories assigned as homework.

Third-year student Veronica Suitt could have kicked herself. She only had time to read two of the stories.

"I did alright," Suitt, daughter of Shirley Suitt, a Duke Dining

Services employee, said later. "He usually gives us one quiz a week."

The strains of college life are many, especially when coupled with a job, but Suitt doesn't complain. At age 20, she enjoys being busy and knows her circumstances aren't nearly as difficult as they could be -- if she had to pay for school herself.

logo

Suitt could not afford to attend her top choice, Peace College, without financial help from the Duke Children's Tuition Grant. She is one of 1,267 children of Duke faculty and staff who used the benefit in 2006; 126 of those students are attending Duke.

The benefit provides up to 75 percent of Duke's tuition -- currently $12,316 per semester -- toward undergraduate tuition for children of faculty and staff. To receive the benefit, the parent must work full-time at Duke University for at least five years, and their children must attend an accredited institution full-time. Families pay a $1,800 deductible each semester.

Getting Started

The Duke Children's Tuition Grant has existed in some form since the 1970s. The benefit provides up to 75 percent of Duke's tuition -- $12,316 per semester -- to help pay for undergraduate tuition for children of Duke University faculty and staff. The grant does not cover room and board, books or other fees. A one-page application, available online through Duke Human Resources, is required each semester.

Eligibility:

• Children of full-time Duke University employees of at least five consecutive years.

• No age limit for children of employees hired before Jan. 1, 1999.

• Children of employees hired after Jan. 1, 1999 must be under age 26.

• Grant does not apply to Health System employees hired after Jan. 1, 1999.

Requirements:

• Students must be enrolled full-time at an accredited, degree-awarding institution of higher education.

• Per semester deductible, $1,800 for 2006-07, must be paid first.

• Grant cannot be used for tuition that is less than the semester deductible.

• Grant may be used for 16 semesters, with a maximum of eight semesters per child. Employees with more than two children can divide the 16 semesters among children.

• Employees must re-apply for the grant at the beginning of each semester.

• Children must be enrolled in a full course load and registered for classes before the Duke grant is awarded.

• Duke sends tuition payment directly to the institution.

• Duke considers other aid students receive when determining the award.

• Grant applies only to one undergraduate degree. Graduate school is not covered.

Duke Children's Tuition Grant Seminars

Attend a workshop with a Duke Benefits representative. Sessions will be held April 10, May 8, June 5, July 17, Aug. 14, Sept. 11, Oct. 9, Nov. 6 and Dec. 4. Eligibility and application procedures will be discussed.

Sessions are noon to 1 p.m. All sessions are in the Breedlove Room in Perkins Library with the exception of April 10. That session is at Human Resources, 705 Broad St. in conference room 03.

To reserve space, click here or call (919) 681-4617.

"I honestly don't know what I would do without the Duke grant," said Suitt, who is studying human resources management. "I'm so grateful for it. Without it, my choice of schools definitely would have been limited. I really wanted to go to Peace because it's close to home and it's small. I wanted to go some place where I could fully concentrate on my school work."

The Duke Children's Tuition Grant may be used toward full-time study at the associate or baccalaureate level at any approved, accredited, degree-granting institution of higher education. The benefit covers tuition only, not room and board, books or other expenses. Since 1996, Duke has provided $107.4 million to 3,430 children of Duke faculty and staff, at about 600 institutions.

Bill Phillips, Duke Human Resources benefits manager, said the grant is intended to help employees send their children, like Veronica Suitt, to schools they may not be able to attend otherwise.

"It's a great benefit," Phillips said. "It's something very unique to us in our local market. I think it's one of our claims to fame."

A 2003 study compared Duke's benefit to 24 other schools, including Cornell, Princeton and Yale. Phillips said the findings show that Duke's benefit is equal to or more extensive than similar benefits at peer universities.

Building Futures

Shelley Beason, a clinical social worker in pediatric hematology oncology with 15 years of service, has twin daughters in out-of-state colleges.

Nicole Beason attends Dickinson College in Pennsylvania; Carrie Beason is at Washington University in St. Louis. Total tuition for both children is about $66,270 year.

The Duke benefit has paid more than $173,000 toward the Beason twins' education. Without the Duke grant, Shelley Beason said her daughters' choices would have been limited.

"When your child is going away for a long time, it's nice to send them someplace they feel good about and where they'll be happy," she said.

Suitt's mother, Shirley Suitt, is also glad her daughter can attend the college of her choice, close to home. Her daughter is the first in the Suitt family to attend a four-year college.

Peace College, a private women's university in Raleigh, has an annual tuition of about $21,600. Shirley Suitt, who has worked at Duke in food services for 24 years, said her daughter would not be able to attend Peace without the Duke benefit. Shirley Suitt is the sole income provider.

Her husband, James, is disabled and unable to work.

The benefit, which has provided $34,149 for Suitt's education, prevented the Suitts from going into debt. Suitt's parents have hardly spent a dime on their daughter's tuition, which has enabled them to pitch in more toward other expenses like room and board.

"The grant is more than just money. It's helping me build my future," said Suitt, who lives on the Peace campus. "A lot of people take opportunities like this for granted, but it's a privilege. I feel obligated to do as well as I can in school to prove that the grant money is not being wasted on me, and to make my family proud. It means a lot to my mom to see me in school."

Suitt credits her family, especially her mother and grandmother, for her work ethic -- she said they always stayed on her about doing well in school. Suitt is enrolled in 15 credit hours and works 30 hours a week, not including nine hours a week in work-study, doing office work for a professor. On an average day, she's lucky to have 30 minutes for a quick lunch in the cafeteria. It's no surprise that in her rush, she'll forget her keys or dorm access card, like she did recently.

"This is a typical day," she said calmly, as she phoned a roommate to borrow an access card.

North Carolina Popular

Other employees are taking advantage of sending their children to in-state schools with the Duke benefit.

In fact, the top five schools attended by Duke children through the tuition benefit are all in North Carolina. Duke is first, followed by Elon, Meredith, Campbell and Guilford.

Channing Duke, whose father, John, has worked at Duke for 26 years and is a licensed steam fitter, attends Louisburg College in Franklin County.

Over three semesters, the benefit paid $13,380 toward her college tuition.

Duke takes 14 class hours at Louisburg and 12 hours at Vance-Granville Community College -- hours she plans to transfer to a four-year university such as North Carolina State or the University of North Carolina in Wilmington. She doesn't receive funding from the Duke tuition grant to pay for classes at Vance-Granville because its tuition is less than the $1,800 deductible.

pencilchart

She said she chose Louisburg for its size with 708 students, six of whom are children of Duke faculty and staff using the benefit. And she liked its close proximity to her parents' home near Creedmoor.

One of her favorite courses, an independent study film class, only has three students. When they meet to discuss films, they all sit next to each other, with their professor seated casually in front of them. The lessons are conversational and interactive, allowing her to express her opinions. The intimate atmosphere is just what she had hoped for.

"I think private schools are more student-oriented, at least Louisburg is," said Duke, who is 19 years old and working toward an associate's in arts degree, with a concentration in visual art.

"I didn't want to go someplace where I'd just be a number."

The Dukes hope to use the grant to send their second daughter, Tori, now a high school sophomore, to a college of her choice. She wants to become a veterinarian.

Suitt, who will graduate from Peace College next year, is saving money in hopes of traveling after graduation before landing a job as a social worker or in human resources.

"Oh, I'd love to be able to get a job at Duke," she said. "That would be so great."