Standard

Reliant encourages our employees to grow in their knowledge, skills, and character by pursuing educational opportunities that enhance job performance and improve ministry capabilities. 

Work/Personal Time for Education

• Employees must spend more than half their work time on their regular ministry job duties.
• Employees and their supervisors work together to:
  • Determine how work and education hours are divided to fulfill job duties.
  • Track hours spent on education and job duties.

Education Expense Reimbursements:

• Employees may reimburse up to $5250 per calendar year. Exceptions may apply. 
• The calendar year limit applies to when reimbursements are paid, not when submitted or when expenses were incurred.
• Eligible expenses include:
  • Fees: tuition, application, graduation, etc. 
  • Course books and supplies
  • Taxable reimbursement expenses, including travel, meals, and school-related health checks and immunizations
• Reimbursements are paid based on Reliant's order of pay when funds are available in the ministry account for which the employee is responsible. 
• Students receiving scholarships or federal aid may not reimburse for the amount from other sources. 
• Students may only reimburse a class once, should a class need to be retaken. 
• Associate Volunteers are not eligible for this benefit.  
• Non-credit-based learning opportunities are reimbursed through Conferences, Retreats, and Events.

Pre-Approval Request:

We ask all employees interested in reimbursing continuing education expenses to submit a request for pre-approval to their local supervisors and their Program Teams. Pre-approval sets appropriate expectations before registering for education classes and streamlines reimbursements for education-related expenses. 

Always provide a specific ministry purpose description for expenses. See Documentation Guidelines.

Examples of Continuing Education Ministry Purposes for Expenses: