Licensed Nursing Education

"Growing Our Own" RN Program

CENTER SUPPORT: The operational costs are significant with any nursing program. Tuition and fees cover a portion of the program costs and in most cases, state or endowment funding covers the remaining costs. That limits the number of students typical programs can accept. This program receives no state funding to offset costs not covered by tuition and fees. Instead those costs are subsidized by the employer, which allows the program to accept an unlimited number of eligible students.

The University of South Dakota (USD) will invoice all participating organizations, such as the Good Samaritan Society, at the beginning of each semester for their share of the per-student subsidy. (There are several organizations that participate for access to this program.)

The overall cost per student decreases as more students are enrolled in the program.
{Total cost to deliver the program - student tuition and fees = subsidy}

The subsidy applies ONLY to the clinical nursing semesters in this program. That is four semesters for non-LPNs and two semesters for LPNs, in most cases.

At the Good Samaritan Society, the employing center pays a portion of the subsidy per student, per semester, and the National Campus pays a portion. The current subsidy is $4,000 per student, per semester, with the center paying $2,000 and National Campus paying $2,000 each semester. National Campus will receive the invoice from USD and will charge the appropriate portion to each center. [USD is working on ways to lower the subsidy in the future.]

The subsidy is not optional, however employees may not enroll in the program without two referrals from the employing center, and a signed acknowledgement of the subsidy commitment. For assistance in selecting employees to be supported in this program, Good Samaritan centers may use GSS #899, the Student Selection Tool. This document is found on the Web Portal / Publications & Documents / Society Forms.

Good Samaritan centers do have the option of providing tuition assistance to employees to help them with the cost of tuition and fees (and are encouraged to do so if possible). The cost of that assistance will be in addition to the subsidy cost each semester. Many centers use the Hoeger Scholarship and Loan Program for employees seeking a nursing degree. Click on Scholarship Opportunities from the menu on the left for more information about that and other tuition assistance options.

For more information about this program or the subsidy, contact learn@good-sam.com.