Starbucks is giving back to all its eligible U.S. employees by providing them with an opportunity to finish their college education through the very first Starbucks College Achievement Plan, in partnership with the Arizona State University (ASU).
The college plan offers Starbucks’ part-time or full-time partners — which is what its employees are called — a chance to complete a bachelor’s degree, along with a full-tuition reimbursement for juniors and seniors, by way of a one-of-a-kind collaboration with the ASU.
The Starbucks-ASU partnership is proof the coffee shop chain is "invested" in its employees.
“In the last few years, we have seen the fracturing of the American Dream. There’s no doubt, the inequality within the country has created a situation where many Americans are being left behind. The question for all of us is, should we accept that, or should we try and do something about it,” Howard Schultz, CEO, president and chairman at Starbucks, says. “Supporting our partners’ ambitions is the very best investment Starbucks can make. Everyone who works as hard as our partners do should have the opportunity to complete college, while balancing work, school and their personal lives.”
“We are very pleased to collaborate with Starbucks, who has impressed us with its strong commitment to its employees by providing this unique opportunity for a first-class college education. ASU has the vision, programs and scale to deliver it to Starbucks employees in every part of the country,” says Dr. Michael M. Crow, president at ASU.
U.S. partners, who work a weekly average of 20 hours at any of the company-operated stores, counting Seattle’s Best Coffee, La Boulange, Evolution Fresh and Teavana, can choose from over 40 undergraduate degree programs at the ASU with classes delivered online. Programs include business, education, retail management and electrical engineering.
Upon admission to the ASU, whether in junior or senior year, eligible Starbucks employees will be able to reimburse its full tuition for every semester of completed full-time coursework, while partial tuition scholarship as well as need-based financial assistance for full-time study of two years will be awarded to freshmen and sophomore students.
Besides the added financial assistance, ASU and Starbucks also created a retention model that will support the needs of working college students through graduation with the help of a financial aid counselor, academic advisor and enrollment coach. It will also offer adaptive learning services, in order to help these working students make progress, as well as community-building and networking opportunities and other resources to assist students in planning their educations.
The college plan, however, does not bind or commit the employees-partners to Starbucks even after graduation.
The collaboration aims to support close to 50 percent of working U.S. college students who did not obtain undergraduate degrees because of lack of financial support, increasing debts and strenuous work-life routine.
However, it seems some find the Starbucks’ initiative only useful for particular workers. Starbucks employee Zee Lemke, 31, tells Time that other employers do tend to look at actual class-based experience and where the degree was obtained.
ASU’s online degree program costs around $10,000 per year. It has been ranked as the second most innovative university in the U.S. by the U.S. News & World Report, and the fifth university to produce best-qualified graduates based on a campus recruiters’ survey by the Wall Street Journal, among other recognitions.
Said collaboration between ASU and Starbucks took inspiration from the organizations’ involvement in Markle Economic Future Initiative, whose commitment is to expand opportunities that will help Americans to succeed in the international digital economy and to reawaken faith of people that the so-called American Dream is possible.
