UF, Disney team up to help workers earn degrees

Walt Disney Co. workers will be eligible to choose from several fully online programs at University of Florida.

Disney has said it will pay the upfront school costs — which includes textbooks, tuition and fees — for more than 80,000 hourly employees.

“Expanding access to highquality education and career development is a core value for the University of Florida and we look forward to working with Disney,” said UF Provost and Senior Vice President for Academic Affairs Joe Glover in a statement released last week.

Starting in January, Disney workers can pursue online degrees at UF that include: Bachelor of Arts or Bachelor of Science in business administration from the Warrington College of Business; the Bachelor of Science in sport management from the College of Health and Human Performance; the Bachelor of Arts in public relations, and the Bachelor of Science in telecommunication from the College of Journalism and Communications, the press release said.

UF’s online programs are designed and taught by the same faculty who work at the main Gainesville campus.

Disney’s education program is administered through the Denver-based Guild Education, which also handles a tuition program for Walmart employees. Disney will spend $50 million initially and then pay up to $25 million annually in the future.

Another school where Disney workers can enroll is Valencia College, which has several campuses in Central Florida, a Disney spokeswoman previously said.

Disney full-time and part-time hourly employees must be with Disney for more than 90 days for their school costs to be paid, the UF release said. They must apply and be accepted to a UF program and will also work with a coach from Guild Education.

Disney has previously said the new program that is called Disney Aspire is “no strings attached,” meaning employees can study whatever they wish and are not required to stay at Disney after they earn their degrees.

University of Florida has been innovative when it comes to online programs.

In 2015, it created a special program where students were required to take online courses for two years before they were allowed to enter a classroom for their bachelor’s degrees. The goal was to make higher education more accessible, although UF’s rollout was controversial.