Starbucks Announces 100 Percent Tuition Coverage for Employees

Employee Relations, Jobs, Skills and Training

This week, Starbucks announced it is expanding its Starbucks College Achievement Plan to offer 100 percent tuition coverage for all U.S. employees.  The partnership with Arizona State University's online degree program expands full tuition coverage previously available to juniors and seniors to all eligible part-time or full-time employees who apply for and complete all four years of a bachelor's degree through ASU's online degree program.  Since announcing the program last summer, nearly 2,000 Starbucks employees have enrolled in the 49 undergraduate degree programs offered through ASU Online.  Starbucks reports it will invest $250 million or more to help at least 25,000 partners graduate by 2025.  Starbucks also recently committed to hiring 10,000 "Opportunity Youth," over the next three years from a population of nearly six million disconnected youth between the ages of 16 and 24 who are not working or in school in order to connect them with employment and access to higher education.  Also this year, Starbucks and Nevada Governor Brian Sandoval celebrated the graduation of two pilot classes of the Starbucks Inclusion Academy that provides on-the-job training and work experience in manufacturing and distribution for people with cognitive and physical disabilities.  Starbucks partnered with the state of Nevada to pilot a training program for clients of the state's vocational rehabilitation program.  Now, with two pilots completed, ten of the eleven participants are employed.  One of the eleven graduates is working at a Nevada Starbucks coffee plant while the other nine working graduates landed jobs in manufacturing and distribution with other employers in the area.  Based on the success of the program, the state and company are planning to run the program four times per year.