Federal Employees Incentivized to Pursue Post-Secondary Education
On May 7, 2021, the Office of Personnel Management (OPM) released a memo which announced that federal employees would receive reduced tuition rates at six different university programs if they choose to pursue post-secondary education. Reduced tuition rates are available to federal employees, and in some cases their family members, through the Federal Academic Alliance, a joint initiative by OPM and the Chief Human Capital Officers (CHOC) Council.
The new universities added to the program are American University Key Executive Leadership Master’s Degree in Public Administration, Bellevue University, Columbia College, Georgetown University Biomedical Graduate Education, University of Louisville, and Michigan State University’s College of Business.
Reduced tuition programs through the American University Key Executive Leadership Master’s Degree in Public Administration, the Georgetown University Biomedical Graduate Education, and the University of Louisville are available only to federal employees. Reduced tuition programs at the other universities are available to both federal employees and their spouses and dependents.
The Federal Academic Alliance is an effort by the federal government to address skills gaps in the workforce and promote employee access to high quality, secondary education. The program aims to mitigate skills gaps in certain fields, such as Acquisition, Human Resources, Financial Auditing, Economics, and Information Technology. Employees in these fields and many STEM-related fields have been lacking in government due to poor employee recruitment and retention.
The Federal Academic Alliance’s goals include providing college students a greater understanding of the workings of government, supporting the career development of federal employees, and promoting online programs that can be more accessible to feds worldwide.
For more information about the programs, admissions, and contact information for each school visit the Federal Academic Alliance wiki page at https://go.usa.gov/xN545. For additional information, please contact OPM’s Federal Academic Alliance Team via email at learninganddevelopment@opm.gov.
