Contracts with hospital to pay for education

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Hi! I have noticed that quite a few hospitals will pay for your education if you sign a contract with them stating that you will work so long for every year of school they pay for. I was just curious how many people have experience with this? Once you complete school and go to work, do they pay you what they pay others? Or would they pay you less since you have already obligated yourself? I thought about looking into this to help me out with school but was curious if I should. Any advice?

I am applying for this type of loan, too. I'm interested to see what others have to say :wink2:

Specializes in Critical Care, Education.

Glad to hear that you are planning to continue your education!

Federal law requires that everybody in the same job with the same quals has to be paid the same. In hospitals, a specific salary range is tied to job/position descriptions. Each organization has their own rules about how they add on extra dollars -- like $X for each year of experience, $X for certification, etc.

Depending on your part of the country, there are different types of arrangements for tuition reimbursement or academic loans. Some orgs pay up front, and others will reimburse when you pass the course.

They will have to provide you with a very clear 'contract' if there are strings attached such as repayment 'years'. If it's a good place to work, go for it!! One org in my area pays up front - up to $7500 per sem!!! that's a good deal. They have an arrangement that 'forgives' the tuition over a period of time -- $X per month. As long as you remain there, it is jut paid off automatically with no effect on your own pay. If you leave before it's all paid off, you have to repay the amount that's left. Seems fair to me.

In my experience, organizations with generous tuition payment schemes are the kinds of places that pay attention to other things as well because they want to keep their staff. So they're good places to work.

Specializes in Pediatric CVICU.

I know that several hospitals have this option, I for one chose not to take it. A coworker of mine has a contract but the problem with this is that she had to sign it before starting classes and clinicals. She ended up hating the facility and is in the process of finding out if our hospital will buy out her contract even though they do not do contracts they do loan repayments. I am planning on having a facility repay my loans for me. I am glad that I did not sign a contract since my interests have changed which changes the hospital that I want to work at. I do believe that contracts are a good thing but make sure that you like the facility and know everything that they have to offer and compare to other facilities. Know the contract inside and out.

Specializes in LTC, Cardiac Step-Down.

It's really going to depend on the fine print of the contract. A lot of times, when you do these contracts, you don't really get to choose the unit or shift that you work, and transfers to different units are near to impossible. So, say you get stuck on nights in a medsurg unit when you wanted to do OR M-F 9-5. Those could be some reaaaaaally long years for you, especially since you're cutting your teeth, and may impact whether or not you stay in nursing at all. If you have been working in that facility already and have some connections there, you might consider it, but the indentured servitude aspect of it has totally turned me off of ever doing it, myself.

Specializes in Ortho, Neuro, Detox, Tele.

See...I saw myself pretty well working where I work now...and I thought that maybe it'd be worth it...BUT I didn't want to chance that something would come along and I'd have to say no or pay back a lot of money with outrageous interest...I feel like some of my friends got roped into working at a different hospital because of that....

But, it's up to you...if you have ties to the hospital and you're sure you'd be ok with whatever they hire you for, go for it. You won't get good options at times, because they may feel like you HAVE to work whatever they give you....

Myself and many of my good friends have signed at the hospital which is paired up with my school. We got to choose if we wanted the tuition reimbursement anytime before the end of the first semester was over, that way we all could get a feel for the hospital. The hospital contracts us to work for 2 years after, because they are paying us for our two years of school (six semesters in two years). Each semester we get a check for 3500 (21000 total) and a lot is taken out in taxes, but hell, the tax refund in April was quite nice :). I have found that a lot of new grads who didn't contract ended up at this hospital anyways. Also, check if that hospital has a new grad program. Apparently this hospital has a great program for those who contracted and they make the transition pretty stress free and easy for the first few months.

I think it is definately something to consider if you like the hospital (and see yourself there anyways) and could use some extra bucks for school.

Hope this helps.

Specializes in ED.

I have a contract with a local hospital for 2 years following graduation, it is part of an accelerated program I am currently in. we have the option to opt out of our contract if we are willing to pay back the funds - $24000...I am considering doing this if I can get into my dream hospital, I was an alternate in the program and so didn't have the choice of hospitals the other 28 students got, so the hospital I'm contracted through doesn't have either of the areas I'm interested in (psych or L&D), they are a trauma center, so I feel if I can get into my dream job it would be worth it to allow someone else the who wants to work there the opportunity to go through their new grad program.

that being said, locally it's very hard for new grads to get a job since hospitals can only absorb so many newbies at a time, so I may not even have a choice, I am very grateful for the opportunity

Myself and many of my good friends have signed at the hospital which is paired up with my school. We got to choose if we wanted the tuition reimbursement anytime before the end of the first semester was over, that way we all could get a feel for the hospital. The hospital contracts us to work for 2 years after, because they are paying us for our two years of school (six semesters in two years). Each semester we get a check for 3500 (21000 total) and a lot is taken out in taxes, but hell, the tax refund in April was quite nice :). I have found that a lot of new grads who didn't contract ended up at this hospital anyways. Also, check if that hospital has a new grad program. Apparently this hospital has a great program for those who contracted and they make the transition pretty stress free and easy for the first few months.

I think it is definately something to consider if you like the hospital (and see yourself there anyways) and could use some extra bucks for school.

Hope this helps.

What school/hospital did you go to?

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