Starbucks to offer workers free online college education

Dennis Gaskill

10 years ago

That's pretty bold. If only I were younger...

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Alexa Smith Banned 10 years ago

They're perhaps paying all those college fees with some of the money they avoided paying in taxes: Special Report: How Starbucks avoids UK taxes | Reuters

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- whateverpedia 10 years ago
  
  Originally Posted by Alexa Smith
  
  They're perhaps paying all those college fees with some of the money they avoided paying in taxes: Special Report: How Starbucks avoids UK taxes | Reuters.
  
  That is probably countered by the amount of money they lost in Australia:
  Starbucks Was A Complete Failure In Australia | Business Insider
  
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Claude Whitacre

10 years ago

Originally Posted by Dennis Gaskill

That's pretty bold. If only I were younger...

It is pretty bold. I love the idea. If only I were smarter.

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msdobe 10 years ago

What an awesome idea!
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Dennis Gaskill

10 years ago

Originally Posted by Dennis Gaskill

That's pretty bold. If only I were younger...

Originally Posted by Claude Whitacre

It is pretty bold. I love the idea. If only I were smarter.

If I were smarter I would have found a way to go when I was younger. I try to only rue one thing at a time though. It's easier to become melancholy if you don't cast your focus too wide.

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bizgrower

10 years ago

Originally Posted by Dennis Gaskill

If I were smarter I would have found a way to go when I was younger. I try to only rue one thing at a time though. It's easier to become melancholy if you don't cast your focus too wide.

I wish I could remember what I would do if only I was younger and smarter.
Oh well, it's easier to be happy if you don't recall too much.

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Alexa Smith Banned 10 years ago

Put me down for a part-time cappuccino doctorate, with plenty of froth ...
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bizgrower

10 years ago

I heard that they made a huge donation to ASU to facilitate this.

The Starbucks district manager for my area has a PhD. I think it's in
psychology. So, maybe it will help their culture retain the people they
want.

(Side note: the busiest Starbuck's in my state is actually licensed to
Vail Associates - the owner's of Vail and many other ski areas. As I
understand it, there are only a few licensed stores in all of Starbucks.
Maybe things have changed since the manager at the time told me this.)

Be careful of diploma mills. A friend of mine worked at Hewlett-Packard in HR,
and they only reimburse tuition for colleges on their approved list. There is
one heavily advertised "University" that offers MBAs and such, that is
not up to HP standards.

Dan

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seasoned

10 years ago

Now THIS is a good idea! It COULD have virtually no cost, is simple, won't necessarily create inflation, etc... And yet it can have real value all around! And YEAH, it could be tax deductible on several grounds. Basically if it can be shown to have a reasonable expectation to improve education or profit. It can be tax deductible.

Steve

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TLTheLiberator

10 years ago

A very interesting development.

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GforceSage

10 years ago

I like the concept and the previous posters bring up excellent points:

A job at Starbucks is meant for workers under 30 or over 60 unless you aspire to be in management since pay is low. Starbucks knows that most will leave, but now, those who stay will be better educated and might stay during college out of loyalty for the opportunity to go to college. Also, Starbucks can hire management from within knowing that the education level is more to their preference.

As Alexa mentioned, there may be a tax advantage taking place here that other companies should look into. Many kids are reassessing the value of coming out of college with a huge amount of debt. If you owe more than 40k coming out, you better have an "in" towards a job or you will spend your earning years just trying to keep up financially to manage that debt along with the added debt that life brings.

On the downside, if ASU accepts anyone from Starbucks, it devalues their diplomas and the value of their graduates to corporate America, like HP, as mentioned above by Dan. You may have interviewers asking applicants," Are you a regular ASU student or a barista?" which sounds terrible, but may happen if the first graduates under the program don't leave favorable impressions.

That said, I hope it works. The cost of education and the fact that much of the college curriculum is in need of updating make this a very difficult time to learn needed skills and find work that pays a living wage.

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HeySal

10 years ago

Originally Posted by GforceSage

I like the concept and the previous posters bring up excellent points:

A job at Starbucks is meant for workers under 30 or over 60 unless you aspire to be in management since pay is low. Starbucks knows that most will leave, but now, those who stay will be better educated and might stay during college out of loyalty for the opportunity to go to college. Also, Starbucks can hire management from within knowing that the education level is more to their preference.

As Alexa mentioned, there may be a tax advantage taking place here that other companies should look into. Many kids are reassessing the value of coming out of college with a huge amount of debt. If you owe more than 40k coming out, you better have an "in" towards a job or you will spend your earning years just trying to keep up financially to manage that debt along with the added debt that life brings.

On the downside, if ASU accepts anyone from Starbucks, it devalues their diplomas and the value of their graduates to corporate America, like HP, as mentioned above by Dan. You may have interviewers asking applicants," Are you a regular ASU student or a barista?" which sounds terrible, but may happen if the first graduates under the program don't leave favorable impressions.

That said, I hope it works. The cost of education and the fact that much of the college curriculum is in need of updating make this a very difficult time to learn needed skills and find work that pays a living wage.

I don't see how the degrees will be devaluated. It's much different to accept anyone than to say everyone who is accepted will be allowed to graduate. Being given the opportunity in no way guarantees that you will make it through the program. That's what community colleges are about, after all. It's very easy to get in, but you still have to make it successfully through your courses to be able to move on into a 4 yr institution.

If I found courses that I wanted to take, I'd put an ap in with Starbucks to get those classes. You get work and the education. It's a win/win situation. I really like the idea.

As far as Starbucks avoiding taxes - all corps do that. It's much better, in my view to put the money back into real solutions than to pay a gov that will just buy martini lunches and party on that money if they get their grubby little hands on it.

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GforceSage

10 years ago

Originally Posted by HeySal

I don't see how the degrees will be devaluated. It's much different to accept anyone than to say everyone who is accepted will be allowed to graduate. Being given the opportunity in no way guarantees that you will make it through the program. That's what community colleges are about, after all. It's very easy to get in, but you still have to make it successfully through your courses to be able to move on into a 4 yr institution.

If I found courses that I wanted to take, I'd put an ap in with Starbucks to get those classes. You get work and the education. It's a win/win situation. I really like the idea.

As far as Starbucks avoiding taxes - all corps do that. It's much better, in my view to put the money back into real solutions than to pay a gov that will just buy martini lunches and party on that money if they get their grubby little hands on it.

I understand your logic, but there is supposed to be criteria to get into ASU in the first place, so yes, it may devalue the degree. I have experience in this area and know of what I speak. You open the doors that easy and you lower the standards as well as the perceived value to those who hire.

You make a good point though about students trying to get a job at Starbucks.
I can see someone who wants to attend ASU not paying their bill and applying at Starbucks for the free ride or trying to do a combo of taking a few classes in person to experience college life and also taking some courses online to save money. The Starbucks in Arizona are going to get slammed with applicants. Starbucks all over probably will.

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HeySal

10 years ago

Originally Posted by GforceSage

I understand your logic, but there is supposed to be criteria to get into ASU in the first place, so yes, it may devalue the degree. I have experience in this area and know of what I speak. You open the doors that easy and you lower the standards as well as the perceived value to those who hire.

You make a good point though about students trying to get a job at Starbucks.
I can see someone who wants to attend ASU not paying their bill and applying at Starbucks for the free ride or trying to do a combo of taking a few classes in person to experience college life and also taking some courses online to save money. The Starbucks in Arizona are going to get slammed with applicants. Starbucks all over probably will.

I used to work at a community college, so I know your concerns. We had "grant" students who were more or less shoved into the school on gov money - and they shouldn't have been there. The college had to set up a special program for them to give them one on one teachers for any course they were flunking. Over 90% of them flunked out anyway.

On the other hand, University of Michigan had a "challenge" program when I was going to school, and they let it a certain amount of people that wouldn't have been able to make the cut from the entrance exams. A lot of them were doing really well. They weren't the top in their classes, but they were holding their own. That challenge program completely changed one of my good friend's lives and it did not deteriorate the graduation standards one whit. I think the key is there were only a small percent allowed in through the program.

We also don't know if the worker has to meet certain criterion for getting into the school. What I heard when I saw this is that Starbucks is picking up the bill for the courses - I didn't hear that anyone will be admitted just because they are starbuck employees. I'm sure if the employees that can't get through the entrance exams, it would be considered a challenge program and the student would be dropped if they couldn't keep passing grades going.

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Sal
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Kay King

10 years ago

he program is open to any of the company's 135,000 US employees who work at least 20 hours a week and have the grades and test scores to gain admission to Arizona State. For a barista with at least two years of college credit, the company will pay full tuition; for those with fewer credits it will pay part of the cost. But even for many of them, courses will be free when government and university aid is included.

Nothing is devalued. An online student doesn't require the level of services an in-class student does so I'm sure SB and the university were able to reach a deal that worked for both of them.

The company I just left has a free tuition program and very few employees take advantage of it. That's because it require class time and the employee is reimbursed AFTER passing the class - not given money before hand. I know only three people who got their full degree this way but what a great deal for them!

Most university and many large companies have free tuition plans but this online process is much easier and the ability to stay in school even after leaving employment is huge.

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yukon

Banned 10 years ago

Smart move to get college kids interested in working for Starbucks.

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John Jonas Phil VA

10 years ago

I wish they would make this available for Starbucks employees worldwide. Here in the Philippines, the cost of a college education is also rising, add that to the fact that a lot of our graduates are not prepared for the workforce. A working student would be a great investment. They would have an educated employee who understands what the job entails. And the working student would have a job that would allow them to practice what they've learned in school, making them a better "fit" for the job.