Re: Tuition Reimbursement

[ArtisticNurse]

Hi.

I have been reading threads about some benefits hospitals give to their employees. I'm curious how this works.

Does it apply to your pre-work education (ex. BSN) or does that mean they would send you to grad school?

What if you don't have school loans to pay?

What's the catch? Would it mean a lower salary? Do you have to work for them for a period of time? How long is it usually?

If you don't avail of it, are there other options in lieu of it like higher salary rate or housing allowance, perhaps?

[elkpark]

Each employer is free to offer whatever benefits related to continuing education it wishes (or none at all). You would have to ask a particular employer what is offered. Some will pay only for continuing education directly related to your current job; some will pay for any legitimate college courses you want to take; some offer benefits just for the employee while some also offer benefits for your kids (that's getting more and more rare). Some will pay the full cost of courses, some just offer partial reimbursement. Some say that they offer tuition reimbursement as a benefit, but the annual amount/cap they allow is so low that it's practically meaningless. I, personally, have never run into an employer that would pay off costs/debts for coursework you have already completed (student debt), they would only pay for courses that you take while you're working for them, but I'm sure there are people out there with different experiences. Typically, if they're going to pay a lot of money for you to go to school, they ask for a commitment of some minimum length of continued employment. It's also common that you have to have been working for an employer for some amount of time (a year is common) before you qualify for education reimbursement.