Should I use my tuition reimbursement from work to get my RN?

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So I'm having a financial dilemma and can't decide what school to go to for my RN. I got accepted into an RN school at a community college and they're giving me an 80% discount to be an LPN to RN student. The bad thing about this school is that it's terribly hard for a community college. Option 2 is to go back to the private school I graduated from and do my RN there. It's easier school than the other school but it's expensive and my tuition would be $6200 without this reimbursement. With the rembursement, my tuition will be reduced from $660 per credit to $448 per credit as long as I maintain to work 22.5 hours a week and that shouldn't be a problem since I get 12 hour shifts as a PCA at my hospital. What's bad about using your employers reimbursement? I know that you owe them money if you we're to leave the facility. Is there any other bad things about using reimbursement ? This is a tough decision since I have 4 semesters at the community college and only 3 at the private school. What do you think is better for me?

While the money from your employer for tuition reimbursement sounds nice there may be some drawbacks. How long do you have to commit to working there? What happens if you leave before that time is up? Would you be expected to pay back all or only a portion of the tuition your employer covered, and how long would you have to pay it back? I would also be concerned about the requirement for maintaining that many scheduled hours. It may not sound like a lot, but with school demands it may still be too much. Not to mention at the least they would have to schedule you on days without school as there is pretty much no way to squeeze in a 12 hour shift on a school day, so realistically if they are willing to work around your school schedule you could be looking at being committed to working every weekend to maintain your required hours.

Despite my seemingly negative attitude toward this I am not trying to dissuade you from accepting the tuition reimbursement if that is what you decide to do, just go into it with all your questions answered beforehand so you don't get stuck in an untenable situation down the road.

Well, they want me to work a year which I did and they want all thier money if I leave. At the moment, I can't go anywhere since I have one of the highest paying aide jobs in the area.

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Specializes in Geriatrics, Dialysis.
Well, they want me to work a year which I did and they want all thier money if I leave. At the moment, I can't go anywhere since I have one of the highest paying aide jobs in the area.

A year isn't terrible and if they expect you to work that year after graduation that means a guaranteed job. If you are in a tight job market that might be a check mark in the positive column. Plus if they are one of the highest paying for techs, they should also be on the higher end for nurses.

Can I ask why the either/or choices for you? If you opted for the considerably cheaper community college why couldn't you also get the tuition reimbursement? Is there a reason the reimbursement program only works at the more expensive private school?

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Other posters have made some really good points to think about. Few other things I would suggest to think about would be for work requirement how many hours were you working when you did your LPN? Did you work that many hours or less, how did you do with keeping up on your studies and grades? Also if you do not pass a class do you have any requirements to pay back that money right away?

As for the skills, the skills that you are going to be learning in the RN program are going to be ones that you do not perform as a PCT or even as an LPN. While I don't love doing skill check offs in my program we have the opportunity to practice before hand. With my program if you don't pass your skill check off the first time you do remediation on the skill and then do another check off. So far nobody in my program has failed for being unable to pass their skills. We have had people have to do remediation usually because they didn't prepare before hand.

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A year isn't terrible and if they expect you to work that year after graduation that means a guaranteed job. If you are in a tight job market that might be a check mark in the positive column. Plus if they are one of the highest paying for techs, they should also be on the higher end for nurses.

Can I ask why the either/or choices for you? If you opted for the considerably cheaper community college why couldn't you also get the tuition reimbursement? Is there a reason the reimbursement program only works at the more expensive private school?

The tuition assistance works better with a community college of course. They give me an 80% discount but the point is it's a more rigorous school and even my instructor who's the nurse leader of my program knows this.

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Specializes in Geriatrics, Dialysis.
The tuition assistance works better with a community college of course. They give me an 80% discount but the point is it's a more rigorous school and even my instructor who's the nurse leader of my program knows this.

Not to harp on what I am sure others have said but a more rigorous program is not a bad thing. Your odds of passing the NCLEX and being more prepared to actually work as a nurse right out of the gate are positives as far as I am concerned.

Of course you should do what you decide is best for you, but all things considered I really think the option of combining the tuition assistance with the much lower priced community college that will also leave you better educated due to their more rigorous program makes the most sense.

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Specializes in ICU.

Just because you have picked up the lab skills at work, does not mean they are the NCLEX way. Your school will teach you the NCLEX way. Right now as I'm studying for NCLEX I can go back in my mind and think about how I did my skills labs for those dreaded drop and drag boxes. They are important.

$448 a credit hour is crazy expensive. I paid $123 at my CC. Graduated debt free. I went to school that had pass/fail check offs. If you missed a critical indicator you failed. You got three tries to pass. Can I ask about your knowledge of these skill labs? Don't tell me it's what you heard from somebody else. Skills lab are not a big deal. I simply practiced and made sure I knew my critical indicators.

But, to be honest, you are counting your chickens...... You need to pass the NCLEX-PN first. Then, contemplate schools.

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