CNA Tuition Reimbursement

[LifeChanges]

I am going to be starting my CNA training next week and was told that it is now Federal Law that if you are hired within 6 or 12 months (one other school said 6, the school I am going to says 12, can't find anything about it on the web.) at a long term care facility (veteran care places excluded), that the employing company is required to reimburse you for the cost of your training. Anyone have to actually ask the employing company for the money or are they pretty forward about giving it to you? I hate to beg, lol.

I know the program administrator at the school I am going to said to wait until they actually hire you to bring it up, not during the interview. So I was just wondering ... do they give you grief about giving it to you? I am just guessing they would like to get away with not paying it, if they could.

Also, anyone who has gotten hired, some places in my area are offering sign-on bonuses because they are so short handed... is the bonus in place of paying back tuition costs or on top of that?

Thanks! Dawn

[mamayogibear]

and yogibear i doubt it. Where did you get your scholarship from btw?

it was called the opportunity grant and is only offered at the tech school and only covers programs not covered by loans. i am glad i got it because the cna program is not covered by normal financial aid

i think it's a bit of a gimmik to get students to get their lpn certificate there and pay the tuition which is about two times the tuition for rn degree programs at community colleges here. also the community colleges don't take prereqs done at the tech school (like micro and a&p that don't have labs?!?!) but a lot of people don't know that and pay to do prereqs there and then have no choice but to do the lpn program there...

wow that was quite a rant.

another way to get funding for a cna program is to go to worksource. it is a state service for the unemployed to help you become more employable so it will pay for 'high demand high pay' jobs. which is a bit of a joke because $10-12 an hour isn't high wage and i've been trying to find a job for over a month! buy hey, several girls in my class got their tuition and books paid for that way`

one more idea is that some schools will give extra financial aid for tuition for a cna program i you are also doing prerequsites full time. there is a jr college three hours away from where i live that does that. so basically you have to do two schools full time and only make enough extra to pay tuition.

wow, i really researched how to afford cna training. it was my last prerequisite to apply to ADN programs and i've applied to three. if i get into the one BSN program i applied for then it is 'extra' and at least i'll have the experience. and hopefully a job by the time i start school

cheers

[jjic3982]

I like your positive attitude. And yes, there are many frustrating private schools that really isn't the best choice. But then again I really can't blame them too much, since they have to make money too.

[BrendaLea55]

Hi, there,

I took my CNA classes and paid for 1/2 of it plus the Red Cross Test. I was also told that we get reimbursed 100% because it's federal law. Here is the PA website that states this law and it even gives a sample letter to give to the LTC that you are working at.

http://www.portal.state.pa.us/portal/server.pt/community/nurse_aide_training_program/7685/nurse_aide_reimbursement_information/507878

I hope this helps..

BrendaLea55