Walmart will cover all tuition and books for its employees at some schools



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The program includes 10 academic partners ranging from the University of Arizona to Southern New Hampshire University. Participants must remain part-time or full-time employees at Walmart to be eligible.

The company said on Tuesday it would remove the previous $ 1 per day fee paid by Walmart and Sam’s Club employees who want to graduate and start covering their books costs as well. About 28,000 workers participate in the program, which Walmart launched in 2018. Walmart has about 1.5 million workers.
“We believe eliminating the dollar a day investment removes the financial barriers to enrollment, and this will increase access,” Lorraine Stomski, senior vice president of learning and leadership at Walmart (WMT), said Tuesday on a call with reporters.

Walmart also said it was adding four new university partners, bringing the total to 10, and offering more degree and certificate options in areas such as business administration, supply chain and cybersecurity.

Walmart is urged to expand the program. Employees who participated in the program are twice as likely to be promoted and are retained at a “significantly higher rate” than other workers, Stomski said.

The move comes as retailers across the country face challenges in hiring store and warehouse workers.

In May, there were 974,000 unfilled retail jobs, according to the latest data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics.
Walmart earlier this year raised the wages of 425,000 American workers to at least $ 13 an hour. Walmart’s minimum wage is $ 11 an hour, lower than that of competitors such as Amazon (AMZN) and Target (TGT)$ 15 starting rate.
Other retailers are also increasing wages, offering hiring and referral bonuses, and extending benefits when looking for workers.

Here is a list of participating Walmart partners:

Johnson & Wales University

University of Arizona

The University of Denver

Access path

Brandman University

Penn foster

Purdue World University

University of Southern New Hampshire

Wilmington University

Voxy EnGen

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