YOU Can Bring More Student Workers to Capitol Lakes By Expanding Tuition Assistance

Capitol Lakes has a reputation of providing exceptional care to our residents.  But one of the biggest challenges we continue to face is staffing shortages.  Recruiting and retaining great employees is a problem affecting long-term care facilities across Wisconsin and the country.  Lucky for Capitol Lakes, innovating solutions to tough problems is what our community does best.

That’s why – in 2024 – we made a concerted effort to recruit more students to work as caregivers.  While these employees may only be able to work 8 hours/week, there is power in numbers.  With enough student workers, Capitol Lakes can begin to solve its caregiver shortage.

While your Capitol Lakes Foundation has long administered a tuition assistance program for our post-secondary student workers, current guidelines require a minimum number of hours that exclude the very students that we are trying to bring to Capitol Lakes. 

With your support, we hope to raise $45,000 before June 30th to pilot an expansion of the program and bring more student workers to our community. 

Your gift to the Capitol Lakes Foundation’s Staff Support fund before June 30th will give us the confidence to pilot an expansion to our tuition assistance program beginning with the Fall 2025 semester.  This expansion will ensure that more Capitol Lakes students across all departments receive support, and that tuition assistance awards can be increased with additional hours worked.

And thanks to Capitol Lakes residents, Doug and Cathie Knuth, the first $10,000 in gifts received this month will be matched ~ DOUBLING the impact of your gift and bringing us one step closer to expanding Tuition Assistance.

Perhaps no one better understands how these gifts can positively impact Capitol Lakes caregivers than Jenna Cohn.  Jenna started working as a C.N.A. at Capitol Lakes her sophomore year of college picking up shifts during the semester, and transitioning to a full- time schedule over her summer breaks.  Now a recent UW-Madison graduate, Jenna has worked for the last year as the Health Center Scheduling Coordinator and intends to continue to work at Capitol Lakes while she pursues a master’s degree.   As she shares:

“Without students it would be impossible to fill our 24/7 schedule. Expanding tuition assistance is one more incentive to keep students working through school.  As a recipient of tuition assistance from the Capitol Lakes Foundation myself I also appreciate the breathing room this support can provide – especially when you’re solely responsible for paying for your educational expenses.”

You know that finding and keeping compassionate caregivers and other staff is essential to increasing the quality of life for our residents.  Expanding tuition assistance at Capitol Lakes is one way we can bring more students to our community to help fill in staffing gaps as well as give our student team members the breathing room they need to pursue their education.  If you would like to help please consider giving as generously as you can. You can donate online here or call 608-283-2013 for additional information.

Thank you for caring so deeply about our community, and for helping us achieve this tangible goal.