Target to offer debt-free education to front-line workers

[Omaha Steve]

Source: AP

By ANNE D'INNOCENZIO

NEW YORK (AP) — Target Corp. is joining a growing list of retailers and restaurant chains offering educational assistance at select online institutions for its front-line employees in a fiercely competitive job market.

The Minneapolis-based discounter said Wednesday that it plans to spend $200 million over the next four years to offer its workers free undergraduate and associate degree programs as well as certificates in business-oriented majors at select institutions such as University of Arizona and University of Denver. Textbooks will also be free.

Like a slew of other big corporate names like Walmart, Taco Bell and the Walt Disney Co., Target is teaming up with Guild Education, a Denver startup that negotiates deals between companies and colleges for the program. Target says it’s offering one of the most comprehensive programs.

Target’s program will be available this fall for more than 340,000 U.S.-based part-time and full-time students. Workers, including those on the first day on the job, can attend classes at more than 40 schools, colleges and universities. They can choose from 250 business programs like computer science, operations and business management.



A sign at a Target store is pictured Thursday, June 24, 2021, in Oklahoma City. Target Corp. is joining a growing list of retailers and restaurant chains offering educational assistance at select online institutions for its front-line workers amid a fiercely competitive labor market. The Minneapolis-based discounter said Wednesday, Aug. 4, that it plans to spend $200 million over the next four years to offer its workers free undergraduate and associate degree programs in business-oriented majors at select institutions such as University of Arizona and University of Denver. (AP Photo/Sue Ogrocki)


Read more: https://apnews.com/article/business-education-04911d0fb41e0f5fe0718b51bf03b550

[CrispyQ]

1. Great news!

I would not have graduated from college w/o educational assistance programs offered by my employers.

[catrose]

2. Hope they work with the students' schedules

[Sapient Donkey]

3. I hope this becomes the norm, and I hope people make use of the program

Cue the weirdos on the right who will call this communism and complain about it will raise prices.... All it takes is one of their popular people to make some statement like that, and it becomes something the majority will believe.

[SKKY]

4. I love this, and they could take it a step further...

...and model it after something like the GI Bill. Everyone pays 100$ for their first year and then they get much, much more than that for college. What they will find, as the DoD has found, is that most who invest in it never actually use it. I have it, but used Navy Tuition Assistance while on active duty to pay for my B.S. and M.S. So, I signed my GI Bill over to my kids. Good deal.

[GB_RN]

5. Looks Like, Unlike Walmart...

Target is using public institutions for their program (and this is based on just what's in the up-front reading, not the whole article). Walmart is forcing people into private, online shit, from what I read in the story on their program.

Good on Target.

[Dream Girl]

6. I think that's wat Targe is doing too. Online learning at specific institutions...

[NurseJackie]

7. Next to Costco, Target is my 2nd favorite brick & mortar store.

[Spazito]

8. Kick.