Eligible Activities for Registration Fees FPG Program

Eligible activities are conferences, workshops, or professional meetings that will increase knowledge or skills and that will enhance your role at your college. If you hold a doctorate you may also be eligible for academic course reimbursement. Other activities include required and voluntary professional certification courses used for your teaching area.

I would like to take a course at another college or university; can I submit tuition fees for the course?

Tuition for relevant courses may be funded if you are not eligible for advancement on the salary schedule. Only faculty at the Doctorate level are eligible for course fees reimbursement.

After I complete my certification course/workshop, can I receive reimbursements for the cost of taking a required certification test?

No. Fees will reimburse for a certification course, class, or workshop, but will not reimburse any testing fees.

I would like to take professional certification classes for my discipline, are these included?

If you meet the certification criteria for teaching and you are not taking the certification course to complete certification inadequacies, FPG may reimburse you for certification classes, workshops, or courses not to exceed the FPG funding limit. Certification courses should be related to your teaching area.

What are some ineligible activities?

Ineligible activities include any activity that is connected to one's teaching obligation or contractual responsibilities and therefore cannot be considered for professional growth. Such activities include:

community college course EDU 250
department meetings
articulation meetings
discipline instructional councils
accreditation work*
advisement sessions within MCCCD
curriculum/materials development or revisions of your course materials*
community advisory board meetings
new faculty orientation, and other standard responsibilities.

Standard responsibilities include, but are not limited to training on the use of the phone system, the current electronic mail, student information, and fiscal systems that are an essential part of faculty work in Maricopa Colleges. Systems upgrades that result in name changes for these basic functions will follow the same restriction.

*Check and see if the above activities might be funded by other MCCCD programs or programs at your college.

Can I get reimbursed for a 100 or 200 level course taken at another college or university?

If you have a doctorate, some lower division courses (100-200 level) not available within MCCCD may qualify for tuition reimbursement. You will need a letter of support from the Vice President of Academic Affairs. If you do not have a doctorate, you may only apply for advancement, not tuition reimbursement.

Do workshops or courses such as time management, stress management, dealing with anger or difficult people qualify for fees reimbursement?

There are instances when these could be considered for professional growth in any discipline such as handling angry students, or managing stress within the classroom. The FPG committee does not want to reject any appropriate professional growth activity and it is difficult to list all the exceptions in this short area. If you are interested in any of these activities, please contact your FPG representative and discuss the specifics of the course or workshop. You may have a unique project or situation where these activities could be considered professional growth.

Any activity could be ineligible if professional growth is not clear. We rely on your rationale and documentation. The Professional Growth Committee considers each activity's context and merit in the final decision as peer advocates for faculty professional growth. Some activities or categories may have restrictions, so please discuss your professional growth opportunities with your FPG representative.

What are some work experiences and/or other professional activities that cannot be used for advancement?

The FPG committee relies on your professionalism and honesty in these instances. These are activities that cannot be used for advancement:

Work as a self-employed agent, member of a partnership, consultant, etc., or when a conflict of interest might be construed.
Work done for or supervised by relatives, family members, or significant others.
Work undertaken directly to maintain certification in the teaching field.

Does the FPG committee provide funding directly to sponsors or providers of faculty professional growth activities?

No.

Can membership fees, materials, luncheons, banquets and tours be funded?

Membership fees, materials, luncheons, banquets and tours are not eligible for funding. If a special speaker is speaking at a luncheon or banquet and it would provide you professional growth, include that in your rationale and it can be funded. If a conference includes one or all of these in their 'one package cost' it will be funded.

If I get funding for conferences or workshops, can I submit for salary advancement too?

No. You must pay for the activity yourself in order for it to be used for salary advancement. Any Maricopa funding such as department funds, funds from administration, etc. cannot be included if you want to use the workshop or course for salary advancement.