Tuition Reimbursement Contract Negotiation

[jeskarwr, ADN, BSN, RN]

I currently work at a union hospital as a RN where they pay 100% of our tuition for nurses to go back to school, but it has to be nursing related (BSN, MSN, DNP, etc).

The catch is firstly, you have to work for 1 year at the hospital before you can start getting reimbursed AND secondly, after you graduate, you have to continue to work at the hospital as a RN for 2 years. If you quit, then you have to pay back the last 2 years of tuition that you was paid to you.

Our nursing union is in the process of negotiating a new contract and we want to give the hospital a decent proposal. For nurses, the #1 issue is that we hate that we have to stay 2 years after we graduate to work as a nurse and not a NP, which causes us to be stuck working as a RN when we have worked so hard to be a NP.

So, my question is, if you were in this position as I am, what would you have liked your ideal contract stipulation to entail. 

Please share your ideas below!

[JadedCPN, BSN, RN]

Seems like the easy fix would be to change the wording that you just need to be employed by the company for two years after reimbursement, instead of specifying that you need to be employed as an RN.

[JKL33]

1 hour ago, jeskarwr said:

So, my question is, if you were in this position as I am, what would you have liked your ideal contract stipulation to entail. 

Me?

Just give me my cash and I'll decide how I spend it.

[jeskarwr, ADN, BSN, RN]

They reimbursed the money on your paystub. 

[JKL33]

I actually meant that I specifically avoid situations that are much more involved than "I will work, you give me cash." Other arrangements are simply more room for employer to control things, as evidenced by the stipulations involved in the question at hand. I can decide for myself that I would like additional education and I can pay for it myself with money already fairly earned, and then I will decide if I want to work for the same employer with my new degree.

 

[jeskarwr, ADN, BSN, RN]

13 minutes ago, JKL33 said:

I actually meant that I specifically avoid situations that are much more involved than "I will work, you give me cash." Other arrangements are simply more room for employer to control things, as evidenced by the stipulations involved in the question at hand. I can decide for myself that I would like additional education and I can pay for it myself with money already fairly earned, and then I will decide if I want to work for the same employer with my new degree.

 

Oh I understand