Hello,

My name is Faith Ivery, and I am with Educational Advisory Services, Inc. We work with companies that provide Tuition Assistance to help them receive the best ROI for that invesment (www.e-a-s.com).
I will be hosting this discussion area. We can talk about practical issues, such as Section 127, tax regulations, process applications...and some broad-based issues regarding Employee Development, lifelong learning, distance learning application, learning styles, all sorts of issues that encompass TAP and higher education use with industry.

I look forward to these discussions. To start off...

Q. How significant is TAP to your company? How many employees use it? How much do you spend on this benefit? Does your company use TAP in its strategic planning endeavors?

Please add you comments and thoughts. Thanks....

[relayed to message board by Dave Baker for Faith Ivery]

Faith--
I hope you're still around. I have just joined a small business that has less than 10 employees, and am interested in introducing the idea of a Tuition Assistance Program to my employers, but don't know where to begin.

So far, it seems, I should obtain a copy of the IRS Publication 508 "Tax Benefits for Work-Related Educational Expenses"...

Do you (or anyone else out there) have any tips for someone just beginning to form a human resources department for a small business as this?

Thanks