Chair’s Corner – February 2019

Happy February, Purdue employees! APSAC has been quite busy since the beginning of the New Year. We’ve been actively engaged in the Healthy Boiler committee, trying to get communication in regards to the HSA bank transition, new APSAC membership drives, APSAC spring grant cycle started, and the APSAC excellence award posted. There will be links to some of these items throughout this month’s edition of the Sentinel – but I wanted to share some updated information in regards to Purdue employees enrolling in classes with Purdue Global. 

A few months ago, APSAC received several questions regarding technology fees and the course for which life experiences and job experiences may be used for credit. We received feedback from Purdue employees that were confused about these fees as Purdue Global was advertised as being “free” to employees. Although Purdue Global is tuition-free for Purdue employees, like any other college program, there are a few fees associated with some of the courses. 

There have been hundreds of Purdue employees taking advantage of this wonderful opportunity for tuition-free programs through Purdue Global – but APSAC understands that some of these fees can create a hardship on some employees. As a group, APSAC proposed a recommendation to the Office of the President to reconsider these course fees for Purdue employees for the sake of professional development for our employees. While we understand that these fees are necessary to maintain program operations, we feel it would also be an added benefit for our employees to earn a degree through Purdue Global truly for free. APSAC hopes to hear feedback on this proposal soon. 

For those enrolling in Purdue Global, please be aware that there are other funding opportunities for continuing education here within Purdue. APSAC just opened up spring professional development grants that could potentially be used towards Purdue Global fees. 

As always, I’d love to hear your feedback on this matter. Please feel free to reach out to myself or any APSAC member. 

All the best, 

Brittany Vale
Chair, Administrative & Professional Staff Advisory Committee