Goodwill’s newest job perk: paying upfront for tuition
With launch of prepaid program that covers all employees’ cost for vocational school or college, company joins growing business trend
By 6:30 most mornings, Luis Diaz is already on the job, driving a forklift at the Goodwill Industries warehouse in Taft, where he works full time. By mid-afternoon, he’s heading to the University of Central Florida, where he’s studying forensic psychology, also fulltime. Despite his paycheck, he’s racked up over $12,000 in student loans in his first three semesters.
“I’m trying to manage everything,” the 20-year-old said. “My education is important, but it’s a lot.”
His burden, though, is about to get lighter. Last week, Goodwill launched a prepaid tuition program that will cover 100% of the cost of college or vocational school for all its employees, both full- and part-time. Diaz calls it “a great relief.”
In a historically tight labor market, observers call it smart business.
“I think what [Goodwill] is doing is a great incentive and benefit to its workers,” said Pamela Nabors, president and CEO of CareerSource Central Florida, the workforce development agency for Orange, Osceola, Seminole, Lake and Sumter counties. “And it’s something we’re seeing a lot more businesses begin to look at, and something we encourage businesses to look at.”
While most major employers offer some sort of tuition-reimbursement program, it often requires full-time employment and is limited to studies related to the business. And in some cases, workers must promise to stay with the company for a number of years afterward.
But Goodwill joins a handful of other companies that are willing to pay in advance — sending checks to public universities, community colleges and vocational schools so workers don’t have to come up with the financing themselves and then wait to get paid back.
At a time when two out of every five college students drop out for financial reasons, the prepaid programs offer a safety net.
The Walt Disney Company was an early adopter, launching its Disney Aspire program in 2018 with some of the same features that Goodwill’s new program has: Regular full-time and part-time hourly employees are eligible after
90 days on the job, and employees can choose from a range of public institutions, studying a subject they choose, whether it’s related to their current job or not.
Several other major employers have followed. Walmart, the nation’s largest private employer, announced in July 2021 that it would cover college tuition upfront, vowing to invest about $1 billion in career-driven training and development in its first five years.
Amazon, T-Mobile, Boeing, BP and Starbucks also have various versions of the programs — though typically more restrictive than Goodwill’s — mostly as an attempt to attract and retain workers.
“Certainly it’s a response to what we’re seeing in the labor market,” said Sean Snaith, director of UCF’s Institute for Economic Forecasting. “And it’s something that might help with retention as well, because if you just offer more money, when another company offers $2 an hour more, off that worker goes. But now the worker has a benefit to stay.”
The most recent U.S. jobs report shows the unemployment rate holding steady at 3.6%, near a 54-year low.
Still, Ed Durkee, president and CEO at Goodwill Industries of Central Florida, said employee recruitment isn’t the nonprofit agency’s main goal.
“Our mission statement is ‘Building lives that work.’ And that applies to our own employees too,” he said. “We want people to invest in themselves by going to school to improve their position in the labor market, earn more money and achieve their goals, whether that’s by staying with us or working elsewhere.”
Goodwill will pair interested employees with “prosperity planners” who will help them focus on career goals and navigate the college application process.
The organization has budgeted $500,000 for the program’s first year. And Durkee said, “We hope that goes up. We’d love to spend more because that would mean more employees take advantage of it.”
Goodwill of Central Florida already has 1,200 employees at its stores, warehouses and offices in Orange, Osceola, Lake, Brevard, Seminole and Volusia counties. That includes 100 workers hired since January. Durkee also has boosted wages an average of 40% in the past 18 months, including bumping starting pay from $9.50 to $13.50 an hour.
But with more openings to fill in retail, warehouse, transportation, human resources and internet technology, Nabors said, Goodwill’s new prepaid tuition will send a message to job seekers.
“It shows that the business is investing in the worker,” she said. CareerSource also launched a prepaid tuition program for its workers last year, though Nabors said it’s not as broad as Goodwill’s.
Durkee said some workers are expected to use the program to study photography, become licensed plumbers or electricians and improve their ability to speak, read and write English.
For Diaz, who began working at Goodwill in 2019, soon after his parents both landed jobs there, the road ahead is a bit longer.
“I’m trying to get a certificate in behavioral forensics as well as my psychology degree,” he said. “I really want to work for the FBI.”