UF Human Resource Services

Human Resource Services

Higher Education Opportunity Policy

Purpose | Initial Eligibility | Continued Eligibility | Procedures | Financial Obligations

Purpose

The Higher Education Opportunity is designed to provide children of full-time TEAMS employees with enhanced opportunities for post-secondary education.

Initial Eligibility

Parent must be:
A full time TEAMS* employee at the University of Florida
*The HEO is not available to OPS, USPS, Academic Personnel, or part-time TEAMS employees.

Student must be:

The natural, adopted, step, foster, or any other child for which legal guardianship can be documented, of a full-time TEAMS employee. Upon request, official documentation of legal guardianship, marital status, and/or age verification must be provided to Human Resource Services.
Unmarried.
In age between the date of his or her high school graduation and the end of the calendar year of his or her 25th birthday.

Continued Eligibility

To continue to participate in the HEO, the following conditions must be met on the first day of classes for each new semester:

The HEO participant’s qualifying legal guardian must be a full-time TEAMS employee on a regular annual or multi-year contract.

In the event that the HEO participant does not have a qualifying parent who is a full-time TEAMS employee on the first day of classes, the HEO participant will be ineligible to continue to participate in the program.
Should a qualifying parent terminate full-time TEAMS employment during the course of a semester in which the HEO participant is enrolled, the HEO participant will remain eligible for the remainder of that semester.
If a qualifying parent returns to full-time TEAMS employment at a later date, the prior HEO benefit does not carry over to a new TEAMS appointment after a break in service. The parent may submit their eligible child’s name for the next available HEO drawing, provided that the HEO participant’s original six-year window of eligibility has not expired.
In the event of the HEO participant’s qualifying parent’s death, the participant will remain eligible for the duration of his/her original eligibility in the program so long as the student maintains the GPA requirement.

The HEO participant’s cumulative GPA must be 2.75 or higher.

The HEO participant must give approval to Human Resource Services to access his or her student records to determine his or her cumulative GPA.
If the student is attending a public community college, he/she must provide to the HEO Coordinator in UF’s Human Resources an official copy of each semester’s transcript of grades from the community college showing all courses attempted and grades received.
Transfer students and/or students who took dual enrollment community college courses in high school that count towards his/her GPA in college will be covered by the HEO program only if the student’s GPA is 2.75 or better.
Should an HEO participant’s cumulative GPA drop below a 2.75, the student will be classified as “GPA ineligible” and will remain ineligible for continued participation in the HEO until his/her cumulative GPA is 2.75 or higher. The six-year window of eligibility will not be adjusted to cover time lost due to GPA ineligible status.
The participant’s future benefit will be prorated to reflect any credit hours earned while GPA ineligible.
The University will not retroactively compensate the participant for any credit hours attempted while GPA ineligible.

The HEO participant must be unmarried.
The HEO participant will continue to be eligible for the program through the end of the calendar year in which the child turns 25 years of age.
HEO participants may attend school part-time in this program; however, the total obligation of the University for each HEO participant will not exceed 132 credit hours over a six-year period.
Each semester, the student must complete the HEO Status Verification web form that confirms contact information and verifies where the student is attending school, as well as how many credits he or she plans to take that semester. The student will not be covered by the HEO for the coming semester if the form is not completed within the specified timeframe.

Procedures

In order to be placed in the pool of names for the HEO program for the next academic year, each of the following must be completed by the close of business on the day of the final UF admissions deadline in mid-January.

1. The child of the TEAMS employee must apply for admission to the University of Florida* by the deadline for freshman application, as established by the Office of Admissions, for the academic year under consideration. Should an HEO applicant fail to apply for admission to the University by the deadline for freshman application, he or she will not be eligible for the HEO in the academic year under consideration.
*Note: Regardless of whether or not a child wants to attend the University of Florida or a community college, the child must apply for admission to UF by the deadline to be considered. If the child is not admitted to UF, only then will he or she have the option of attending a community college instead.

2. The TEAMS employee must notify Training and Development in the Office of Human Resource Services that he/she wishes to enter his/her child into the HEO for the coming academic year by turning in the completed HEO Application Form to Training and Development, P.O. Box 115006, Gainesville, Florida, 32611, or by faxing it to (352) 392-1005.

Each eligible full-time TEAMS employee may submit one eligible child’s name per year for entrance into the HEO program.
More than one full-time TEAMS employee may enter the same eligible child’s name for consideration in this program, provided that the eligible child meets the eligibility criteria for each full-time TEAMS employee.
If a full-time TEAMS employee has an eligible child selected for participation in this program, he or she may enter a different eligible child’s name in subsequent years, provided that the subsequent eligible child meets the eligibility criteria.
A new application must be made for each subsequent year the eligible child wishes to submit their name for the HEO.
Once a child’s name is selected for the HEO, there is no need to submit his or her name again.
If the eligible child is already admitted to the University of Florida, no new application for admission is necessary.

3. If a transfer student, the child must submit official transcripts for any higher education institutions* he or she has attended since receiving his or her high school diploma to Training and Development, P.O. Box 115006.
* Note: This may include community college courses taken in high school as part of a dual enrollment program, if the child is planning to attend the same community college after high school graduation or if another community college uses the grades from the dual enrollment courses to calculate a GPA.

4. Once the Human Resource Services has confirmed the eligibility of those requesting to be in the HEO, the pool of names of children who have completed the application for admission to UF by the specified deadline will be forwarded to UF's Director of Admissions. To ensure fairness, the 50 names will be selected at a public drawing to take place each spring.

5. In the month of March, a public drawing coordinated by Training and Development in the Office of Human Resource Services will be held to select 50 names from the pool of eligible HEO applicants who have applied for admission to the University, as verified by the Office of Admissions. All eligible HEO applicants and their qualifying parents will be given appropriate notice of the date, time, and location of the drawing.

Those children among the fifty selected, who meet admissions requirements to the University of Florida, will be offered admission to the University, conditional upon receipt of their high school diploma before the date of entry into the University offered by the Director of Admissions.
If selected for the HEO and offered admission to the University, the HEO recipient must attend the University to receive the benefit of the HEO.
Please note that the University of Florida reserves the right to make changes based on administrative errors.
Those children among the fifty who do not meet admissions requirements to the University, who receive a high school diploma before the beginning of the academic year and who wish to continue in this program must enroll at a public community college in Florida.

6. Once an offer of admission has been made, the Office of Human Resource Services will provide an HEO acceptance letter to the qualifying TEAMS parent. This letter must be signed by both the HEO student and the qualifying TEAMS parent and returned to Office of Human Resource Services by June 30 preceding the academic year under consideration.

7. The HEO benefit will be activated by the following:

Receipt of a signed HEO acceptance letter by Human Resource Services
Enrollment by the HEO student at the institution indicated on the HEO acceptance letter for the fall semester of the first academic year of the student’s eligibility. If the student does not take courses that fall semester, he or she will lose the HEO benefit.

8. The University will pay the in-state matriculation fees less any Bright Futures Scholarship award for each of the fifty children for up to twelve credits per semester during the academic year and for up to 6 credits per twelve (12) week summer semester at the University of Florida or a public community college.

The students are responsible for payment of all other fees charged by the institution and for any costs associated with attending the institution.
The HEO will not pay for any late fees incurred by the students for not submitting their portion of payments on-time.

9. To receive the HEO funds for each semester, students must complete the HEO Status Verification web form online during the specified timeframe each term.

Financial Obligations

University: Responsible for all in-state matriculation fees (the actual instruction fee) less any Bright Futures scholarship award for a maximum of 132 credit hours over a period of six calendar years or less.

All completed courses, passed or failed, and withdrawals are totaled in the count of credit hours.
The six-year window of eligibility begins with the date of entry into the first post-secondary institution attended after the date of the HEO participant’s high school graduation.
This window is not affected by lack of enrollment, GPA ineligible status, or attendance at other institutions.

HEO Student: Responsible for all other fees, including those related to books, supplies, building, capital improvement, student financial aid, activity and service, athletic, health, transportation, etc.

A complete list of the breakdown for fees at UF is maintained on the University Financial Services web site. For other community colleges, students should contact the financial departments directly.
Students are responsible for paying the difference in the in-state matriculation fees the HEO Program covers and the total amount per credit hour by the deadline specified by UF or the community college. The HEO program does NOT cover any late fees when the student fails to pay their fees on-time.

Office of Human Resource Services