Pulling an all-nighter should be a little bit easier for these college students.
Starbucks announced this morning that it is partnering with Arizona State University to enable some of its 135,000 U.S. employees, who work at least 20 hours a week, to earn a college degree online.
The Seattle coffee giant announced details of the program during an early morning webcast. It said participants may choose from more than 40 undergraduate degree programs, such as electrical engineering, education, business and retail management. Employees who are admitted as juniors and seniors will earn full tuition reimbursement, and freshmen and sophomores will be eligible for a partial tuition scholarship and financial aid for two years of full-time study.
There will be no commitment to remain at Starbucks past graduation, and employees can start participating from day one at the company.
The multimedia announcement, included a video telling stories of employees who did not have enough money to stay in school (see below), and through a story posted on Medium about a daughter’s college dreams being reborn on Father’s Day. The article was penned by Starbucks SVP of Global Communications Corey duBrowa. Howard Schutz
Why Arizona State University?
Starbucks said that while nearly half of college students in the U.S. drop out before finishing a bachelor’s degree, nearly half of all ASU Online students graduate in under three years.
Of course, massive online college reimbursement programs aren’t entirely unique to Starbucks. Amazon’s Career Choice Program, for instance, provides 95 percent of tuition, textbooks and other fees up to $2,000 per year for employees who have worked at the company for three years.
