COFFEE YOUR WAY TO COLLEGE: Starbucks already offers tuition reimbursement for its employees through its existing College Achievement Plan, which took off in 2014. But the program has fallen short for students who lack necessary requirements, like a minimum GPA or class prerequisites, to qualify for college admission. To try to fill that gap, the king of coffee is expanding its partnership with Arizona State University to form the new Pathway to Admission program. Under the program, Starbucks employees can earn admission to ASU after completing courses on Global Freshman Academy, a set of first-year level courses that ASU offers via online MOOC platform edX. Starbucks will cover the cost of the courses, which are taught by ASU faculty.
“The program was great and I could study on my own time and easily work around my work schedule,” Justin Stilwell, a Starbucks employee who is participating in the Pathways program, said in a prepared statement. Stilwell wasn’t eligible for Starbucks’ College Achievement Plan because he did not take the SAT. “Some people think if you don’t go to college right away, it’s too late for you, but it’s never too late.”
