Can hospital provide education expense reimbursement by paying for a CNA to get a RN degree?

Is this training them for a new profession or is this a deductible expense for the company and a nonreportable income for the CNA's? Also, if the nurses can't work for the hospital for at least a year the company wants some of that educational assistance back. what are the tax consequences of the returned funds?

yes, some do :)
you just have to ask around, some have sponsorships as well as assistance. i know nothing about tax consequences, but i do know some hospitals do help out with the schooling expenses, one of my sisters did it for a while, but she also worked for the hospital.

Although employed in a medical field, a CNA has not met the minimum education requirements to work as a nurse. The education expense for the RN program is not work-related. Any unreimbursed expenses the CNA has will be eligible for the Hope Credit, the Lifetime Learning Credit, or the Tuition and Fees Deduction, but not a deduction for unreimbursed employee expenses.

Is the CNA an employee or not? If the CNA is an employee, the employer is allowed to provide $5,250 of benefits as a tax-free fringe benefit to the employee. Amounts up to $5,250 per employee are deductible by the employer. Any amounts over that are taxable to the employee.

If the CNA has to pay back educational assistance that was part of her taxable wages, then she can recover those taxes paid by filing Form 1045 with her tax return in the year she repaid the expenses.