User:CollegeMeltdown/Educational assistance benefit

Educational assistance benefits are employee benefits that allow workers to participate in educational programs for free or at a reduced cost. These benefits are administered through education assistance programs. Education assistance programs are used by corporations to recruit, retain, and retrain employees and to increase goodwill with former employees and the public. Corporations with these programs include Walmart (Live Better U), Amazon (Career Choice), McDonald's (Archways to Opportunity) and Kroger (Feed Your Future). The US Department of Defense also has a program called DOD Tuition Assistance that provides troops with funds for higher education.

Some corporations use a medium, such as Guild Education, to connect employers with education partners

According to Wharton College professor Peter Cappelli, only a small percentage of workers actually use educational assistance benefits.

DOD Tuition Assistance
DOD Tuition Assistance is a US Department of Defense (DOD) program that funds higher education programming for US military servicemembers. Currently, DOD TA funds servicemember's college tuition and fees, not to exceed $250 per semester credit hour or $166 per quarter credit hour and not to exceed $4,500 per fiscal year, Oct. 1 through Sept. 30. In 2019, DOD spent more than $492 million on the program that year and about 220,000 troops used the benefits.

Guild Education
Guild's employer clients include Walmart, Lowe's, Chipotle, Taco Bell, Disney and Discover Financial. Its education partners include Penn Foster High School, University of Arizona Global (formerly Ashford University), Colorado State University online, Purdue University Global (formerly Kaplan University), University of Denver University College, University of Florida Online, Johnson and Wales University Online, Brandman University and Bellevue University. A majority of Guild's students are people of color. Research assistant Kelia Washington, writing for The Century Foundation, states, "Although Guild Education’s tuition discounts could partially subsidize employees’ educational costs, the employees will most likely pay more than $1 per day to cover their educational expenses. The cost of Walmart employees pursuing their own career interests is high."