Employer Paying for School?

saveitICU, CRNA · Feb 15, 2020

There are hospitals and groups that have tuition reimbursement. I have heard of groups offering students stipends while in school to help offset some loan debt. I have also heard of groups or hospitals offering to repay X amount of student loans if you sign a contract for X amount of time. The risk you take is these jobs can be those that are less desirable for whatever reason (bad work environment, bad call schedule, staffing issues, etc.) and these groups need to offer something like this in order to attract providers. So if you sign the contract --> start working --> end up hating it and quit before your contract end date, you could be on the hook for however much the group/hospital paid toward your loans. Hope this answers some of your questions!

loveanesthesia · Feb 15, 2020

Understand what will happen if you take a stipend and commit to working for the organization, and then when the time comes the organization doesn’t want to hire you. You don’t want to be liable for payback if they don’t want you. Understand what the terms of payback are if you don’t work for them at all, or for only part of the time commitment. Is it prorated? Will you get the same package as any new hire?

brookalyn, BSN, RN · Feb 17, 2020

Thank you both!! I will definitely take these things into consideration. There wasn’t any job I was looking at specifically, but if an opportunity comes up in the future I wanted more info on things to consider. So, thanks ?

caliotter3 · Feb 17, 2020

Anecdotal: In general, this occurred more in the past than now. In general, I have read more tales of woe about people being stuck with unbearable work situations than I have read of people happy as can be. Keep in mind that organizations that have great work conditions, in general, do not need to entice employees in any type of employment market.

brookalyn, BSN, RN · Feb 17, 2020

14 minutes ago, caliotter3 said:
Anecdotal: In general, this occurred more in the past than now. In general, I have read more tales of woe about people being stuck with unbearable work situations than I have read of people happy as can be. Keep in mind that organizations that have great work conditions, in general, do not need to entice employees in any type of employment market.

Thank you! That seems to be a valid point, similar to RN positions that have a huge sign-on bonus. Makes you wonder ?

caliotter3 · Feb 17, 2020

If you find yourself looking at one of these programs, try to find people in the midst of their employment payback period and see what they have to say. That will give you a good perspective.

llg, PhD, RN · Feb 17, 2020

There are lots of variations out there -- some better than others.

As previous posters have pointed out, be very wary of programs that give you money up front to pay for your education -- then require you to work for them after graduation. After graduation, they have you and you are forced to work for them even if the job is terrible and not a good fit for you at all. Personally, I would never sign a contract with a potential employer that would take away my freedom to leave.

However, another option is to get a job at a hospital that offers generous tuition reimbursement benefits. You work and get paid -- and you are eligible for extra money to help you pay for school as you go. Usually, such arrangements are not generous enough to pay for 100% of your schooling -- and you may have to slow down your academic progress and go to school part time. But tuition reimbursement programs can be a big help -- and don't usually require a commitment from you to work there beyond the current semester.

Editorial Team / Admin · Feb 17, 2020

Specific to CRNA school, my facility is outside the norm. They will provide a stipend during clinicals so that you have money for expenses without having to work, pay 100% of tuition, and we even have a place for students to stay. I do not know what the term is to work for the facility afterwards; it's 1 year after last check for tuition reimbursement for all other schools. We have a CRNA shortage in my area, plus we need a lot to cover our 45ish ORs/procedure rooms.

brookalyn, BSN, RN · Feb 17, 2020

29 minutes ago, Rose_Queen said:
Specific to CRNA school, my facility is outside the norm. They will provide a stipend during clinicals so that you have money for expenses without having to work, pay 100% of tuition, and we even have a place for students to stay. I do not know what the term is to work for the facility afterwards; it's 1 year after last check for tuition reimbursement for all other schools. We have a CRNA shortage in my area, plus we need a lot to cover our 45ish ORs/procedure rooms.

This sounds amazing!! Do you enjoy working there?