CMC trustees OK domestic-partner benefits

Civil-union couples eligible for tuition, health-care perks

GLENWOOD SPRINGS, Colorado — Colorado Mountain College has extended health-insurance and tuition-discount benefits to “domestic partners,” in keeping with the State of Colorado’s recent adoption of civil unions for same-sex couples.

The new policy, which was proposed last November by staff members at the college, was adopted unanimously by the college’s board of trustees on Wednesday in Glenwood Springs.

Specifically, the new policy permits the listing of domestic partners, meaning same-sex partners or opposite-sex partners, as dependents eligible for the college’s Tuition Grant Program.

That program, according to a memo provided to the Post Independent, allows employees, their spouses and dependents to take up to 12 credit hours for classes toward an associates’ (two-year) degree, or up to six credit hours for classes toward a bachelor’s (four-year) degree, with a maximum for full story