Council of Independent Colleges
The CIC Tuition Exchange Program (CIC-TEP) is a network of CIC colleges and universities willing to accept, tuition-free, at least 3 students from families of full-time employees of other CIC-TEP institutions.
CIC Scholarships are competitive. In addition to meeting the admissions requirements of the receiving (importing) institution, some participating institutions have additional requirements such as higher academic standards.
Eligibility
The employee (parent) must be employed at Pace University, full-time, for a minimum of three (3) continuous years immediately prior to September 1st of the initial scholarship year and must also be in active full-time service at that time. In addition, both schools must continue to participate in the program. Eligible students are dependents (equivalent to the IRS definition of a dependent), spouses, or full time employees. Eligibility for graduate study under the CIC program is limited to the employee and his/her spouse. Employees should contact the TEP liaison at the importing institution for specific eligibility guidelines.
The University Benefits office generally receives 20-25 applications from eligible Pace University faculty and staff members each academic year. Please note that even if an employee is eligible to apply for an award, he/she may not receive an award because of the limited number of scholarships available each academic year. It is possible that a student may be accepted for admission at a participating University, but not offered a tuition exchange scholarship.
More than one (1) employee or dependent can participate in the Council of Independent Colleges program at a time.
Duration
Scholarships are generally awarded for four consecutive years (fall and spring semesters only), although they are not "guaranteed."
Students must continue to meet the (importing) institution's standards for academic performance and personal conduct and other terms and conditions of the scholarship. The continuation of the scholarship is also dependent upon the employee’s continued full time status at Pace University. In addition, both schools must continue to participate in the program.
All employees who are currently receiving a tuition exchange scholarship must submit a recertification form each fall for the upcoming academic year.
Amount of the Scholarship
Scholarships cover full tuition. Students are responsible for all non-tuition charges—room, board, and fees—at the institution in which they enroll (host/importing institution).
The complex nature of financial aid programs requires that many factors be taken into consideration regarding other types of financial aid. If the aid program is specific to tuition, the student may not obtain additional money (since TEP covers full tuition). If however, the aid can be used for other educational expenses, it is at the discretion of the college to allow the additional aid to offset the TEP benefit or to be in addition to the TEP benefit.
Procedure
- Each fall, an email notification will be sent to all full-time employees for the next academic year (for example, employees should apply in fall 2024 for the 2025–2026 academic year). The email will contain a link to the Council of Independent Colleges application form.
- All application forms must be received at the University Benefits office by the established deadline (usually mid-October). Forms received after the established deadline will be processed by date received.
- Once eligibility has been verified, scholarship application forms will be processed with the schools listed on each form (limit of 12).
- The importing school will send notifications to those who have applied for the scholarship. The importing school will also communicate to the applicant that he/she must apply through and be accepted via the normal Admissions channels and that decisions are typically made in mid/late spring.
- The schools listed on an employee’s application form can be changed by the employee at any time. Updates must be emailed to the University Benefits office as soon as possible in order to ensure timely processing.
- In all cases, the decision to award the tuition exchange scholarship is at the discretion of the importing school. Pace University and the University Benefits Department has no control over who receives the scholarship.
- The importing school is responsible for notifying all students who have applied for the tuition exchange scholarship, whether the scholarship was awarded to a particular applicant or not.
Separating Employees
If an employee or his/her child is currently receiving a tuition exchange scholarship, either through Tuition Exchange, Inc. or through the Council of Independent Colleges (CIC), that scholarship will end as of the employee’s last day of work. The employee is responsible for communicating this information to the Financial Aid office at the importing school and for securing alternate funding to replace the tuition exchange scholarship. In addition, the employee must contact the (Pace) University Benefits office, at (914) 923-2828, to confirm that the importing school’s tuition exchange liaison officer has been notified.
Tuition Exchange Liaison Officer
The Tuition Exchange Liaison Officer for Pace University is Carolyn Ventura Lengers, Associate Director, University Benefits, Human Resources.
Additional Information
Please visit Tuition Exchange Program (TEP) for additional information concerning the schools participating in the Council of Independent Colleges (CIC) tuition exchange program.