How to Fill Out the Tennessee Public Higher Education Fee Discount Form

To claim Tennessee’s 25% undergraduate tuition discount for a child of a state employee or public school teacher, you fill out the Tennessee Public Higher Education Fee Discount Form, get it signed by a verifying official from the qualifying parent’s employer (or the Division of Retirement, for retirees), and submit it to the bursar or financial aid office at the Tennessee public college or university where the student is enrolling. A new signed form is required every term, and it needs to be approved before classes begin.

Who the Form Is For

The form is used by a dependent child, under 24 on the first day of classes, whose parent falls into one of these categories:¹

A full-time Tennessee state employee (executive, judicial, or legislative branch).
A licensed public school teacher employed full-time by a Tennessee local education agency or public charter school.
A licensed ROTC instructor at a public school.
A full-time public school technology coordinator.
A state employee who retired with at least 25 years of full-time creditable service.
A state employee who died while employed, or after retiring with 25 years of service.
A public school teacher who retired with at least 30 years of creditable service, or who retired on disability after at least 25 years.
A public school teacher who was licensed and employed full-time at the time of death, or who died after retirement with the required service.

Full-time status for state employees means being in a position classified as full-time with an expected 1,950 hours per year, or working at least 1,600 hours per year while receiving full-time benefits.

What the Discount Covers

The 25% reduction applies only to enrollment fees (the charges labeled tuition or maintenance fees) for undergraduate courses at any Tennessee public higher education institution. That includes every University of Tennessee campus, the Tennessee Board of Regents community colleges and state universities, and the Colleges of Applied Technology.¹

Parking, lab fees, technology fees, application fees, and discipline-specific surcharges are not discounted. Graduate courses are not eligible. There is no cap on credit hours per term, so an eligible student taking a full load gets the discount on all qualifying enrollment fees for that term.

Getting the Form

Download the Public Higher Education Fee Discount Form from the Tennessee Higher Education Commission at tn.gov/thec, under the “Fee Waiver and Fee Discount Programs” page, or pick up a copy from the financial aid or bursar’s office at the enrolling institution.²

THEC does not process the form itself. All verification and approval happens at the institution. Do not mail it to THEC.

Filling Out the Form

It’s a single page, divided into student information, employee or teacher information, and a category and signature section.

Student Information

Enter the student’s full legal name, university-issued student ID, date of birth, and mailing address. State the student’s relationship to the qualifying parent (usually “child”). Check the box for the term the discount is for: Fall, Spring, Summer, or Mini Term, and write in the academic year. A blank term box will hold up processing.³

Employee or Teacher Information

Enter the qualifying parent’s full name, Social Security number, home address, phone number, and employer phone number. On the employer line, list the specific state agency, public school system, or LEA. A public school technology coordinator should list the LEA. For a retiree, the form routes to the Division of Retirement for verification instead of a current employer.

Category Checkboxes

Check the single category that matches the parent’s status: state employee, licensed teacher, ROTC instructor, technology coordinator, retired employee, deceased employee, retired teacher, or deceased teacher. Picking the wrong category, or leaving the section blank, is one of the most common reasons the form comes back.

Who Signs the Form

The form will not be accepted without the right verification signature, and who that is depends on the parent’s status:²

Current state employee: the student signs, and a designated official of the employing state agency signs to verify eligibility.
Current teacher: the student signs, and a designated official of the employing LEA or public charter school signs.
Retired state employee: the retired employee signs, and a designated official of the State Treasury Department, Division of Retirement, confirms the required years of creditable service.
Deceased state employee: a designated official of the agency where the employee last worked signs.
Deceased teacher: a designated official of the LEA or public charter school where the teacher last worked signs.

The signature step is often the slowest part of the process. Families of retirees or deceased employees sometimes have to track down an office they’ve never dealt with before. Start it well before the term begins.

Where and When to Submit

Submit the completed, signed form directly to the bursar’s or financial aid office at the institution where the student is enrolling. Each school has its own internal routing, but the form has to be approved before classes begin for the term.¹

Submitting late can mean losing the discount for that term, or being charged late fees on the undiscounted balance. The discount does not renew automatically. A new certified form has to go in for every semester the student enrolls, and if the student attends more than one institution across terms, each one needs its own form.³

After You Submit

The institution reviews the form and confirms the parent’s status with the employer, school district, or Division of Retirement. Eligibility is evaluated as of the first day of classes. If the parent’s employment ends or the student turns 24 after that date, it only affects future terms, not the one already underway.²

Once verified, the 25% discount posts as a credit on the student’s account and reduces the balance due. If verification turns up a problem (employment ended before the term, student over 24, wrong category), the student becomes responsible for the full tuition. The form itself warns that if the student is later found ineligible, all previously discounted fees come due along with any other applicable charges.³

The form is a governmental record. Knowingly putting false information on it, such as fabricating employment or misrepresenting the parent-child relationship, falls under Tennessee’s tampering with governmental records statute, a Class E felony.⁴

If You’re the Employee, Not the Parent of a Student

The fee discount form only covers a qualifying parent’s child. State employees who want to take courses themselves use a different program, the fee waiver under T.C.A. § 8-50-114, which has its own form. The waiver covers full tuition on up to four courses per academic year for employees with at least six continuous months of full-time state service, and it includes both undergraduate and graduate work. Public school teachers do not qualify for the waiver, only the fee discount for their children.⁵ Both forms are available on the THEC website and at enrolling institutions.

1
Tennessee Higher Education Commission. Fee Waiver and Fee Discount Programs
2
Cornell Law School. Tennessee Compilation of Rules and Regulations 1540-01-13-.02 – Eligibility
3
The University of Tennessee Knoxville. Tennessee Public Higher Education Fee Discount Form
4
Justia. Tennessee Code 39-16-504 – Destruction of and Tampering with Governmental Records
5
Justia. Tennessee Code 8-50-114 – Continuing Education – Limited Waiver of Tuition and Fees