SAN MATEO, CA – October 28, 2026 – Tuition.io, the leading platform for employer-sponsored education assistance benefits, today released the findings of its new Career Pathway Survey, exploring how employers can turn interest in career-aligned education into employee participation. The survey reveals that most frontline workers believe their companies have achievable paths to higher-paying roles, but concerns about tuition costs and time commitments prevent them from pursuing the requisite education.
Healthcare workforces have strict education requirements, and frontline turnover is costly. Replacing an employee costs between 50% and 200% of their annual salary, and shortages in key roles mean fewer services and declining revenue for health systems. Clinical roles require certification at a minimum and often degrees and licensure. Career pathway programs can cover the tuition costs for certificates, degrees and licensing exams, giving employers a lever to build clinical talent pipelines through targeted upskilling while providing workers an accessible opportunity for career mobility.
To learn what makes career pathway programs credible enough to be worth an employee’s time, Tuition.io surveyed 177 healthcare workers. The survey shows that most healthcare workers (80%) know what it takes to move up in their company, and 72% feel their employer offers a realistic shot at getting there. However, 94% cited barriers that would make it difficult to enroll in an education program.
“Healthcare is a unique industry where a significant portion of employee advancement is determined by formal credentials rather than employer discretion,” said Jeni Burckart, VP of Healthcare and Workforce Services at Tuition.io. “Filling credentialed positions is essential for health systems to operate as intended, but shift work, financial pressures, and caregiving responsibilities can make pursuing education seem impossible. Health systems can overcome some of these barriers with upfront payment, clear timelines for completion, role mapping with interview opportunities, and peer testimonials from past participants.”
Additional key findings from the survey include:
- Upfront payment removes the biggest barrier to participation: Nearly 80% of healthcare workers say they would be more likely to enroll in an employer-sponsored program if tuition were paid upfront rather than reimbursed, and 21% said full tuition coverage would do the most to convince them a program is worth their time. For entry-level staff living paycheck to paycheck, reimbursement models that require fronting tuition costs can put programs out of reach before they begin.
- Healthcare workers want explicit qualification criteria: 46% of healthcare workers said clear requirements for qualifying for the new role would increase their confidence in a program, and 46% said the same of a guaranteed interview after completion. For 25%, knowing the new role comes with a higher salary would be most convincing that a program is worth their time.
- Repayment risk weighs even more heavily in healthcare: Among healthcare workers, 40% cite having to repay education costs if they leave their employer as a top barrier to enrolling in a career program. Compared with 34% of frontline workers in other industries, clawback clauses may be keeping a disproportionate share of healthcare staff from pursuing clinical training.
- Time is also a factor: 30% of healthcare workers worry about finding enough time outside of work to complete a course, a challenge for staff working long, rotating, or unpredictable shifts.
To explore the survey findings and how employers can turn interest in sponsored career pathway programs into participation, visit https://www.tuition.io/briefings/nov-2026-career-pathway-survey.
About the Report
The Career Pathway Report survey sampled 525 non-managerial employees aged 18-45 at U.S. companies with at least 1,000 employees, including 177 frontline healthcare workers, screened for either no college degree or early-career status, defined as ages 18-24. Tuition.io partnered with Centiment to field the survey between August and September 2026. Analysis focused on what convinces workers that an employer-sponsored career pathway program is worth pursuing, and how that answer changes by industry, age, and education level.
Tuition.io is the leading employer-sponsored education benefit platform specializing in student loan benefits and tuition assistance administration. Its solutions help employers hire, retain, and upskill talent by addressing the dual challenges of historic student debt and the ROI of higher education. For more information, visit Tuition.io.
