Educational Benefits

You and your dependents are eligible to start using education benefits beginning the first term after your first day of employment.

The education forms and policies can be found on the Human Resources site under the Forms section; you will then scroll down to the Education Benefit Forms.

The DGIA should be submitted by April 30^th each year, however, HR does process these forms year-round.  The form is submitted online in the CE and DGIA Education Portal.  The link is located under the Forms section; you will then scroll down to the Education Benefits Forms.

CE forms are submitted for each course you take.  You can submit one form at the beginning of each semester.  These forms are due 3 weeks prior to financial check-in deadlines.  If your department does not have access to submit CE forms in the portal then you may email a paper CE form to HR for processing.  The form is located under the Forms section; you will then scroll down to the Education Benefits Forms.

You are allowed to take 18 credit hours per academic year, see CE policy for specific information.

You will receive an automated email from Human Resources once your CE form has been approved.  Your form will be sent to Financial Aid (FA) for further processing/posting.  Once FA has posted your aid, it will reflect on your ASIST account.

Your aid can only be posted if all of your requirements have been met. If you are in an undergraduate program, you must have completed the FAFSA and the VTAG. If you were selected for verification, you must provide specific documentation before your aid can be posted. You must also be registered for courses in order for your aid to post. If all of these things have been done, you may contact Financial Aid at (434) 582-2270.

Graduate students are not required to submit FAFSA or VTAG applications. If you are under a qualifying graduate degree, Financial Aid will contact you to submit VTAG upon receipt of your CE form. You must be registered for courses in order for your aid to post. If your aid is not showing on your ASIST account, you may contact Financial Aid at (434) 582-2270.

The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) requires Liberty University to withhold taxes on any education benefits provided to our employees using CE in excess of $5,250 per calendar year, and that Liberty also withhold taxes on every dollar an employee’s dependent uses in DGIA at the Graduate and Doctoral level. Taxes owed on CE and DGIA benefits will be charged to the employee or their dependent’s student account and must be paid as part of the Financial Check-In (FCI) process.
At the end of the calendar year, the taxable tuition for CE/DGIA will be added to the employee’s income, on their W2. The amounts collected will show as withheld in the appropriate boxes on the W-2.

The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) requires Liberty University to withhold taxes on any education benefits provided to our employees using CE in excess of $5,250 per year, and that Liberty also withhold taxes on every dollar an employee’s dependent uses in DGIA at the Graduate and Doctoral level.

Moving forward the student will be required to pay the taxes for classes as you or your dependent take them. A tax liability will be automatically assessed at the time your CE/DGIA benefit is posted. The tax liabilities for the benefits you or your dependent are receiving in a given semester will be applied to your student(‘s) account and you will be required to pay these taxes as part of Financial Check-In or a one-time account payment in ASIST.
Due to the $5,250 allowance for CE, it is anticipated that the tax withholdings will increase throughout the calendar year.

Beginning Spring 2023, you will no longer be able to set up a payroll deduction to pay your tax liabilities for CE/DGIA. The student will be able to make a one-time payment in ASIST or set up a payment plan within Financial Check-In (FCI).

Our goal with this new process is to give our employees more tools to pay these liabilities and increase visibility to tax liabilities when CE/DGIA benefits are being used.

This change will impact all CE/DGIA benefits that are being applied to the Spring 2023 term and forward. As your CE or DGIA is approved and applied to your financial aid offer in ASIST, you will see these taxes applied to your student account. Historic balances will be transferred in early 2023, and future communication will be provided.

Future communication will be released related to outstanding tax balances owed at a future date.

Balances through 2022 are visible in the CE/DGIA portal.

Education Portal Link:  https://apex.liberty.edu/apex/f?p=261

You may still set up a payroll deduction now to pay off your balance or reduce the amount that will be added to your student account or make payment at Human Resources with a personal check or money order.

Tuition tax balances follow the standards for student account balances and must be paid in full or be in a payment plan before the start of the next term. If you have any unpaid balance, there will be a hold that prevents registration.

Yes, the process for receiving CE/DGIA benefits still require you complete the CE/DGIA forms.

The tuition taxes that are added to the student’s account will be processed the same as any other fees associated with financial check in. If a payment plan is utilized for any fees at financial check in, the $50 payment schedule fee would be applied.

The tuition taxes are appearing on the student account because it is tied to the courses in which they are enrolled and provides greater payment opportunities for payment by you and your dependents.  The tuition benefit is still an employee benefit and will be added to the employee’s W-2 earnings and taxes in the calendar year in which they are incurred.

The taxes will be applied to the student who is receiving the benefit. So, if your dependent is receiving DGIA for graduate courses, the taxes will be applied to your dependent’s student account. If you as an employee are receiving CE for graduate courses, the taxes will be applied to your student account.