Question

Want a degree? Work at Starbucks

Answer 1

I was in the store and whole walking down one isle, I saw the May 2015 The Atlantic cover, see attached, which is a tad bizarre at best but covers a topic that hit some to a lot of students: how to succeed in college. I read a little there and picked up a copy to read the rest.

The article goes in depth into a new program Starbucks has. Now, while I am no fan of their coffee, I do respect how they are with their employees and this new program is no exception. In short, Starbucks made a deal with Arizona State University to make baccalaureate degrees available for free to all Starbucks employees!

They have success coaches, a tuition makeup plan, and much more. You get your aid package and whatever it does not cover, Starbucks reimburses. You may be out of pocket for a semester, but that is a TON easier to deal with than racking up loans over years.

Since most of Starbucks does not have a lot of upward movement, this is not a way for them to generate a pool of people to promote. It is part of their corporate philosophy about giving back. From a business perspective, it is going to help keep an employee for at least a couple years in a job that has pretty high turnover. It is also going to make a lot of those employees into future customers for overpriced, over roasted, high sugar, coffee like drinks. So it will pay them back some, but that is not the real core of this.

Most business that have employee development programs require you to stay with the company for a while. For example, when I was with ARINC they wanted people to stay 2 years after leaving school or you had to pay them back the tuition they had paid. Starbucks is not shackling people down like that. They are just giving people an honest chance to better themselves, which I felt was well worth sharing.

References:

http://www.starbucks.com/careers/college-plan
https://asuonline.asu.edu/starbucks-and-arizona-state-university

Answer 2

Cover for the mag, taken from their site. It is a really good article and worth picking up a copy.

Answer 3

Interesting :o

But I don't plan to work at StarBucks any time soon to get a degree x'D

Answer 4

Funny, I was actually considering ASU

Answer 5

Oh, and the article goes over a number of the gotchas in college. Even if you do not use the Starbucks-ASU system, it can help you be ready a bit more.

Answer 6

This sounds like a plan maybe after I get my degree. Though, this is great to have!
Referring to how many years you have to be within the company:
My sister worked at Amazon and to help them pay for your tuition in college, the minimum years you have or had to work there is 3 years. Which didn't work out for her at all. So she waited for another year and got her part time in college; she quit Amazon for certain reasons and finished up her college semester for certain reasons as well. That being said, she did have to return all her money that she has been given for the cost. That has killed her painfully. She did return it back and honestly doesn't even feel like getting back there now. Even if she tries to get back to the same workplace, she'd have to start over her "worked years" at that place. It's a pain in the but, but that's just how Amazon works in case some of you didn't know.

Answer 7

Yah, Yana, a lot of businesses have policies like that. It makes it hard to take advantage of the benefits. Also, the schools are not always very helpful to the students. We are now seeing some changes. New ratings of the colleges are one thing. This sort of improved benefit is another. MOOCs are also looking like they may cause some changes hat will help.

Answer 8

Interesting! My cousin is searching for a part-time job and has been considering Starbucks or Ten Ren's.

Answer 9

Intriguing!

Answer 10

@EclipsedStar If I recall, it is for 20hrs a week and more. So yes, part time could get a big benefit out of this.

Answer 11

I'll be showing her those reference links, if you don't mind. :3

Answer 12

You're such a cutie, @e.mccormick

Answer 13

@abb0t Well, it is practical advice for those that can't pay...