Faculty, staff, students, alumni and higher education leaders call on college presidents to uphold institutional commitments and protect Tuition Exchange scholars after faculty and staff job cuts.

Across the United States, colleges and universities are cutting faculty and staff positions.  

For many faculty and staff whose children are receiving a Tuition Exchange (TE) Scholarship, losing their jobs also means their children lose their scholarships, which typically cover the majority of their tuition.  This is a nightmare scenario for these college students:  their parent loses their income and they lose their scholarships, creating tremendous financial and emotional burdens and often derailing their college plans.  The Tuition Exchange's mission - "Making Dreams Come True, One Scholarship at a Time" - then comes to a shocking and sudden stop for these students and their parents, who typically have worked many years to realize this benefit only to see it ripped away right when their family needs it.

This petition is a call to action demanding that the 710 colleges and universities in the Tuition Exchange (providing scholarships for 7,800 students) continue Tuition Exchange scholarships for the full eight semesters of eligibility for all students whose parents have lost their jobs.

The good news:  The Tuition Exchange itself supports students keeping their scholarships.  TE has announced a new protocol - titled TE Extends Scholarship Eligibility for Families Affected by Reductions in Force - that allows the colleges and universities that are part of the program to choose to continue the scholarships until graduation for students whose faculty and staff parents have lost their jobs.  TE has stated that colleges and universities that have cut positions due to unexpected conditions - including the major financial challenges higher education is currently facing - certainly have the right to continue these scholarships for students whose parents have lost their jobs.  Simply stated, it is fully up to the colleges and universities to choose to continue these scholarships; the institutions have full flexibility in this area.

Even better news:  Because TE is a reciprocal scholarship opportunity - an exchange - for eligible faculty and staff, it costs nothing for member schools to choose to keep the scholarships going until graduation for these students.  

This petition will be delivered to the Tuition Exchange, the presidents of each TE college and university, and the board chairs of each TE college and university. 

This petition also demands that the Tuition Exchange and each individual TE college and university make public how many TE students have lost their scholarships at their respective institutions if they choose not to continue TE scholarships for children of faculty and staff whose positions have been eliminated.