Question: If a hospital provides tuition reimbursement to students in return for a two- to three-year work commitment at the hospital and either the student leaves, not paying back the hospital for the tuition reimbursement, or if the hospital finds it does not need the graduate's service can the hospital count a portion of the tuition reimbursement as community benefit?
Recommendation: We recommend not counting tuition reimbursement or loan forgiveness when the original purpose was to recruit and retain professional staff members rather than to respond to a community need.
(February 2011)