Nursing tuition reimbursement is a program offered by employers that helps nurses with the cost of acquiring additional skills or advanced degrees. This benefit can help employers retain top talent currently on staff by supporting nurses with the right resources to advance careers and move to leadership positions.
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Nurses are in short supply today. As demand rises, employers are struggling to fill positions and to ensure that their medical staff has the necessary skills to deliver quality care. High turnover and burnout rates have healthcare employers racing to offer benefits that encourage top nurses to choose – and stay with – their employer.
FAQs: What Employers Ask About Nursing Tuition Reimbursement
What is nursing tuition reimbursement?
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Do all nurses receive tuition reimbursement?
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No. Whether a nurse can utilize tuition reimbursement depends on the nurse’s financial situation and the healthcare organization’s benefits package.
What are the advantages of nursing tuition reimbursement?
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For nurses, a tuition reimbursement program enables healthcare workers to acquire the skills, certifications, and degrees that can help to advance their careers. For employers, a nursing tuition reimbursement program is an effective recruitment and retention strategy, a way to address the healthcare talent shortage by helping to reduce turnover that can compromise performance and the quality of patient care.
Can an employer require their employee to work for a certain amount of time after the employer reimburses tuition?
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An employer may stipulate that a nurse continues to work for the same healthcare employer for a certain amount of time following the receipt of tuition assistance. Should an employee that participates in an employer educational assistance program or employee tuition assistance program be unable to fulfill their time commitments with the employer, they may lose their tuition reimbursement benefits.
Are healthcare employers required to offer nurse tuition reimbursement programs?
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No. In the United States, a healthcare company is not required to offer nurse tuition reimbursement programs. Any loan repayment is by agreement between employer and employee.
Improve Recruitment with Nursing Tuition Reimbursement
Bright Horizons is a leader in creating and implementing education management programs and healthcare recruitment strategies. Our nursing tuition reimbursement programs help organizations improve employee well-being, increase employee retention, and attract top talent in a competitive marketplace.
Most of the care a patient receives at the hospital is from a nurse, and the more nurses per bed, the better the health outcomes for patients. Whether dressing wounds, checking vital signs, or administering medication, nurses serve as the main source of care for most patients.
In the United States, nurses outnumber physicians over four to one. Receiving care often means being cared for by a nurse. While many people associate treatment with a physician, nurses actually have a large role in the way treatment is administered. A physician may stipulate that a wound be dressed three times a day, but the details of how the wound is cleaned and wrapped may fall to a nurse to implement.
Required education and tuition debt for nurses
One attraction for employment in nursing is the relatively quick turnaround between beginning training and starting work. A two-year degree is often enough to gain employment, however with more training and specialization a nurse can improve their career path.
To work as a nurse requires formal education, at minimum a two-year associate degree. Many nurses may have six or even eight years of higher education, with years of training in specialized fields. Some jurisdictions now require nurses to acquire a bachelor’s degree within a given time window after beginning employment.
As a result, on average a nurse finishes their degree with tens of thousands of dollars of student debt. Healthcare organizations that offer nurse tuition reimbursement programs help cover some or all of these costs for their employees.
Leadership and career development for nurses
For nurses looking to expand their skill sets or help pay down existing student debt, nurse tuition reimbursement programs can be a huge win. By partnering with their employer on increasing their value as a nurse, a nurse will not only make themselves more valuable to their current employer, but improve their future prospects.
In addition, under the United States tax code, qualifying educational assistance benefits below a certain amount are not considered taxable income. This means that an employee that takes advantage of an employer educational assistance program effectively receives an increase in compensation tax-free.
Nursing tuition reimbursement is a win for healthcare providers
Many employers have found that improving workplace financial wellness improves employee focus at work. In a healthcare setting where patient outcomes can be determined by how distracted a caregiver is, any way to reduce an employee’s financial stress is important.
Healthcare employers need as many tools as they can get to retain talent. Across all industries, the average cost associated with bringing on a new employee can be almost one third of their annual salary, so employee retention keeps costs down.
In the healthcare industry, the costs can be even higher. It can cost a healthcare company over $60,000 when a registered nurse needs to be replaced. With turnover rates for registered nurses that can be over thirty percent, the one in three nurses that may leave their employer in any given year amounts to a huge expense.
Healthcare employee retention programs aim to reduce the disruption caused by constant employee churn, and tuition reimbursement can be a critical tool.
Providing nursing tuition reimbursement is a win for patients
Patients also ultimately benefit from nurse tuition reimbursement programs. More highly trained nurses improve patient outcomes. When the rate of registered nurses with baccalaureate degrees increases, the rate of many postoperative complications drops.
Studies have found that the lower the rate of turnover, the lower the incidence of in hospital complications. Room cleaning is more conscientious when turnover is lower, and the rate of medication errors drop.
Bright Horizons offers more than a traditional daycare. It helps parents looking for education-based Boston daycare, NYC daycare, Chicago daycare, Washington, DC daycare, Los Angeles daycare, San Francisco daycare, Seattle daycare and local daycares in other cities. It also provides back-up daycare and elder care, employer-sponsored child care, employer tuition assistance, workforce education, and student loan repayment programs. Bright Horizons Global Headquarters is located in Newton, Massachusetts, USA.