Earlier this month, Aurora-based Children's Hospital Colorado announced it was scaling back its education benefit program for workers for certain healthcare degrees. Now, the hospital has adjusted its plan for current enrollees after feedback from affected employees.
"Over the past few days, after announcing our changes to our education benefits, hospital leaders have had the opportunity to have several additional conversations with team members who would be impacted by these changes," Leila Roche, a spokesperson for Children's, said in a statement shared with Becker's on Dec. 12. "While we did our best to make our original decision thoughtfully and with care and consideration, it is based on those conversations and relationships with our team members that we have decided to maintain the original benefits offered to those who are currently enrolled in a Guild program.
"Changes for future enrollees and to the 2024 offerings will move forward as initially announced last week."
The news follows Children's partnership with Guild, an education platform, to offer tuition-free learning benefits to employees. The partnership, launched in April 2022, provides employees access to Guild's programs from education providers. These programs include undergraduate and graduate degree options, high school completion and college prep, among other offerings.
With the partnership, the hospital also agreed to pay up to $5,250 annually for employees to access additional programs within Guild's learning marketplace. Programs focus on areas such as healthcare, business, technology, psychology and hospitality.
Ms. Roche told Becker's earlier this month that the organization decided to make changes to the scope of its 2024 Guild educational offerings in the catalog due to significantly higher-than-expected use.
"This was a very difficult decision and one we did not make without serious consideration of various options," she said.
The decision left some workers trying to figure out their next steps, The Denver Post reported on Dec. 11. A Children's nurse who is pursuing a master's in a behavioral health field told the newspaper she would be unable to apply for financial aid before the next semester begins.
"They gave us about a one-month notice," said the nurse, who spoke to the newspaper on the condition of anonymity over fears she could lose her job. "A lot of us don't have five, six grand saved to pay for our next term."
The hospital has now decided to maintain the original benefits offered to those who are currently enrolled in a Guild program. For future enrollees, it has put a cap on the amount it can pay annually and adjusted the programs/degrees it is offering.
Future enrollees will be able to continue their education with tuition support paid upfront by Children’s Colorado up to $5,250 annually for each team member enrolled, Ms. Roche said.
"This limit was already in place for some programs and now will be implemented for all programs," she said. "For 2024, we also had to limit new enrollments in our Guild catalog but will continue to allow enrollment in critical, hard-to-fill areas."
Overall, Children's has committed more than $11 million to team member education through Guild since offering the program. Ms. Roche said the hospital "remains dedicated to making a significant annual investment in this benefit and the education of more than 1,000 team members."
Editor's note: This article was updated at 7:48 p.m. CST on Dec. 12.