I’d say the most crucial part of this initial proposal is to show why this program is IMPORTANT to both the employees and to the company. Although proposals can contain many sections, since this sounds like it is the first-time thing, I’d keep it on the shorter side, but PACKED with information that backs your idea! These are the sections I’d include.

Introduction – in this section you may include a definition or explanation of what ‘tuition reimbursement programs’ are. You may also talk about their prevalence in US companies (proving that, yeah, companies do this sort of thing!) and highlighting one or two companies who have initiated such programs. I’m sorry I dont know any websites that just list which companies have these programs, but you could visit the websites of some major companies and search to see if they have tuition reimbursement. You may also try to find out if any companies in your town or city already offer programs like this, and use them as examples.

Benefits/Why is this Important – In this section you’ll want to give the rationale for adopting such a program. Make sure to highlight what benefits the program will have to the employees and also to the company. The following sites will help you to generate a list of benefits in general, but also when thinking of benefits spend some time thinking specifically of how the program can help your particular company.

http://www.startribune.com/208/story/45078.html

http://www.elearners.com/guide-to-online-education/getting-someone-else-to-pay-for-your-online-degree.asp?nl=3

http://www.allbusiness.com/human-resources/employee-development/1163-1.html

http://www.back2college.com/tapprograms.htm

Feasability – You may also want to include a section that shows you’ve thought out the idea of starting out a program like this, and that it can and will work! There are concerns with a program like this, as in, how much will be reimbursed, who is eligible, what school grades must be maintained to stay in the program, and what are the employees responsibilities to the company during this time (like hours which must be worked, time employee must remain after using the tuition program, etc). The following website details the reimbursement program at Emory University, to give you ideas. You may also consider turning in a copy of this program with your proposal, or a copy of the details of a reimbursement program of another company, as examples.

http://emory.hr.emory.edu/policies.nsf/48b27e12ea76728185256bdf005460e6/959ea9b88173d53485256bd5005846e2?OpenDocument

In general I’d say these are three ‘must-have’ sections of your proposal. Each section can be as elaborate or as short as you want to make it. Thus the entire document could be 2 pages, 5 pages, or even 20 pages. Just make sure you back up your tuition reimbursement suggestion with facts and statements that stress the importance of such a program. If you need to do more online searching to find information, in addition to “tuition reimbursement” you can also search for “tuition assistance” because these terms are pretty much synonymous.

Hope this helps!