As Penn State continues to make efforts toward substantial process improvements, Human Resources has identified opportunities to enhance the dependent grant-in-aid (GIA) process. Penn State offers a very generous tuition discount benefit for eligible spouses and dependent children, which is outlined in policy HR 37. In the interest of simplifying the application process and preventing employees from potentially missing out on this tremendous benefit, the University is currently exploring a fully automated GIA application process, with complete implementation planned for 2021.
“The dependent grant-in-aid benefit is highly valued by Penn State employees and their families, and it is a key part of the University’s recruitment strategy,” said Lorraine Goffe, vice president for human resources. “HR’s decision to significantly improve the grant-in-aid process comes directly from feedback provided by the Penn State community. The new automated process will reduce effort needed from applicants and simplify the process from start to finish.”
In preparation for the new process in 2021, the following improvements have been made to the application process for dependent grant-in-aid beginning with the Fall 2020 semester:
- Employees will now be able to apply for an entire academic year at one time (Fall 2020 – Summer 2021).
- The application deadline is now the last day of classes of each semester for which the employee is applying.
For employees who have not yet applied for Fall 2020, log into WorkLion. After applying for Fall 2020, employees will not need to apply for future semesters.
For employees who have already applied for Fall 2020, no further action is needed to apply for future semesters.
Employees in both instances will receive an email from Employee Benefits reminding them of the changes to the process and actions taken on their behalf. Employees will continue to receive approval or denial emails on a semester-by-semester basis. Employee Benefits will manage this process without any additional action from applicants throughout the 2020-21 academic year.
Note that a separate application must be submitted for each student seeking grant-in-aid.
Contact HR Services at 814-865-1473 with any questions.