<p>Now in addition to serving you your morning coffee 100,000 Starbucks employees can get an ASU degree in 2 years…yeah!. Continued devaluation of the college degree or a great employee benefit like health insurance?, Howard Schulz is the man, good for him and Starbucks employees who can’t get through community college.</p>
<p><a href=“http://youtu.be/I9_BKHzgV6c”>http://youtu.be/I9_BKHzgV6c</a></p>
<p>Englishman: Why of why do you post on this page? Why do you hate Arizona State University so much? You do not add any valuable information to this site and provide parents with remarkably little information. If anything, you make parents question the quality of the teaching staff at ASU. If they would hire someone who hates the university so much and has such disdain for the quality of the education and the students, what kind of education will my child receive? You sent me a pm after I asked in which department you teach. You said let’s not make this personal. There are few things more personal that my child’s education. After attending orientation, I came away believing that the quality of professors at ASU was top notch. I really hope my child, and every other student on the ASU campus, is able to avoid professors with your attitude. If you have nothing valuable to contribute, kindly refrain from pontificating your hate for ASU. We get it…</p>
<p>This is just unbelievable how anyone could twist something so positive into another absurd and bizarre attempt at a slap at ASU. There is absolutely no mention of doing a complete degree in 2 years. Starbucks is promising to fund 2 years; ASU is not promising a degree in 2 years. Sure a student might finish a degree they have already started in an additional 2 years. And nowhere in the clip or anywhere else is anything mentioned about community college. Talk about wild assumptions and negative stereotyping!</p>
<p>Most universities (including MIT by the way) are expanding their availability of online formats for today’s society. I applaud ASU for being at the forefront of online education that can make a degree accessible to thousands more students! </p>
<p>@Englishman “Continued devaluation of the college degree or a great employee benefit like health insurance?,”</p>
<p>Twent five years ago I benefited from a tuition benefit from Boeing. They paid for me to go back to school and pick up a second degree in engineering. Was that employee tuition benefit a contributor to “devaluation of the college degree”?</p>
<p>I am not really sure from this post if your problem is with ASU, Starbucks, or employees of Starbucks?</p>
<p>Perhaps you would like to elaborate?</p>
<p>Well think about it, if 135,000 Starbucks associates can now get a degree from ASU at no cost, when something becomes ‘free’, often it becomes a commodity, commoditization of a product reduces its value as does increased supply, both of these will occur as Starbucks employees now will have access to free degrees!.<br>
After which why would anyone ‘pay’ for a degree/product from ASU, in the same way, why would you elect to pay and value say a newspaper, when the news/articles are offered for free over the internet, same rationale, if I don’t have to pay for something, I don’t attach a value or price/cost to it. If you can get a degree working at Starbucks from ASU at no cost to me, why would anyone else choose to value/pay for the same thing, which others are getting for free or in this case as a benefit like health insurance? </p>
<p>This has a cost of devaluing something others have put a price on ie: a college degree from ASU. Take this scenario so 3 students graduate May 2018 from ASU, One paid in-state and lived at home, one paid out of state and lived in dorms/rental and the third worked at Starbucks on Mill Ave, the first paid $5K pa, the second $15K net and the third paid nothing/zero, they all have degrees from ASU, how does one differentiate, certainly the one who works at Starbucks got paid throughout and doesn’t even have to repay the tuition when he/she leaves Starbucks to compete with the guy from out of state for the job at Keller Williams realty, or to become a shift supervisor…at Starbucks?</p>
<p>We are very fortunate in AZ with respect to public universities. MOST of my students received offers of free tuition (which, unlike states like MA, is actually about $10I a year - my niece in MA got free tuition, which amounted to about a thousand bucks a year) to one of the state schools, and ASU is quite generous with aid to in-state students).</p>
<p>The negative is that the schools are not very selective, which means that many students do not take their preparatory years seriously enough and sometimes don’t fully appreciate their educational opportunities.</p>
<p>Nonetheless, ASU has some great programs, and I applaud Starbucks for this move. It is a benefit, like any other, and I hope it serves their employees well. I don’t think that it devalues education at all. Instead, it helps to recruit employees who are goal-focused.</p>
<p>I agree Sakacar2 however Englishman finds every negative about ASU and broadcasts it sarcastically here. Are Veterans who complete service to our country devaluing education when they return to the classroom tuition free under the GI Bill? How about their children who attend college tuition free under the parent’s GI Bill benefits? No, quite the contrary, in the business, law school and LLM (Masters of Law) programs I attended, people with such experiences greatly enhanced the education I received through their contributions and experiences. I applaud any school that seeks to provide education to those with life experience, be it on the battlefield or supporting a family as a Starbucks employee. </p>
<p>@Englishman Yes, when something is free, it is often not valued appropriately. However, this education is not free. It is simply a form of compensation like all other benefits. Starbucks is doing this to attract the type of employees it wants. This is not a new practice but it is new for Starbucks.</p>
<p>Like I said earlier, Boeing was doing this 25+ years ago. I haven’t seen that the University of Washingtons or Seattle University’s degrees have been devalued.</p>
<p>“why would anyone else choose to value/pay for the same thing, which others are getting for free or in this case as a benefit like health insurance?”</p>
<p>For the same reason people value health insurance, which others get for free or as a benefit. Somebody is paying, even if it’s not the recipient of the benefit. I don’t know what Starbucks will be paying ASU to offer this as a benefit, but it’s not going to devalue an ASU education, and I’m sure lots of Starbucks baristas will be glad to take Starbucks up on their offer. Lots of employers offer some form of tuition benefits. It helps people afford college. </p>
<p>Englishman, your argument doesn’t hold water. First of all, this isn’t a “free degree”. It’s an employee tuition benefit. The only thing unique about it is that it’s partnered with a single university. But even that’s not really unique. I went to the University of Michigan for my MBA. At the time, it was the number four program in the country. About half of the students in the MBA program were going to school with an employer footing the bill. Many were on programs from the Big 3 automakers where they not only got their tuition paid but they kept earning their full salary while going to school full time. That program was a unique partnership between the companies and UofM. Did this devalue the program? Hardly. It moved up to #2 by the time I graduated. Did this discourage others from applying and paying full price? Wrong again. Admissions just got more and more competitive. But, hey, don’t let facts get in the way of you cynicism about ASU.</p>
<p>I think if you look into the details, you might find this is different, it is not a tuition reimbursement plan that often US employers have used in the past, I myself had my employer pay for my MBA. I expect you will see over time as this program evolves and students sign-up, this is not a traditional reimbursement program but more a partnership and benefit enrolling students who might have a harder time paying and attending college. Moreover in time as students who consider ASU and how to pay will consider options including work/loans or tuition benefit. I already spoke to one HS Junior who was already working at Starbucks looking into the benefit, he was going to ASU anyway, but now he might not have to pay or rather his parents may not. We’ll see how it works out, I just wanted folks to know this was out there.</p>
<p>Englishman, I encourage you to read up on the Starbucks program. It IS a tuition reimbursement program and less generous in terms of payback than what most employer sponsored programs are. A student must complete 21 credits before getting reimbursed. Since a lot of the employees are going to school part time, this could be well over a year. Only completion credits are reimbursed at 100% - those for the last two years of college. (source: the NYT article on the program) For the high school junior you mentioned, he is still going to have to pay up front (or his parents are). </p>
<p>I am not disputing that this is a partnership or a benefit (all tuition reimbursement programs are benefits). But I don’t buy into the idea that this will in any way dilute the value of an ASU degree or that it will have any effect whatsoever on the perception of the traditional programs or the honors options at ASU. Many companies have done similar things on larger and smaller scales and history just doesn’t show a dilutive effect. In fact, companies who have tuition reimbursement programs often limit their use to colleges they feel are substantial. </p>
<p>“why would anyone else choose to value/pay for the same thing, which others are getting for free or in this case as a benefit like health insurance?”</p>
<p>There are many, many, students who get “free” tuition already. And it doesn’t stop anyone from valuing and paying for tuition at the same schools. In fact, one of the reasons ASU is on our radar is that my sons both qualified for “free” tuition in one of the merit programs – a benefit that is also offered at a number of other schools. </p>
<p>Like GoBlueMom, I am from Michigan. I attended the other university of Michigan, Michigan State University, for undergrad in its Honors Program. A number of students at MSU, including those in the Honors Program, worked part time in the auto industry, some on assembly lines. There are a number of assembly plants in Lansing so MSU was extremely convenient to the workers. Many received a tuition reimbursement from their employers. These students brought a good deal of experience to the classroom. In fact, between their experience and their realization of the value of a college degree, they may have been the most serious students in any class. The curve in each class was not decreased by their participation; it was made tougher. </p>
<p>My son was admitted to my alma mater, a school that according to US News and World Report, outranks both ASU and U of A. He also received generous scholarship money to all of these schools. The fact of the matter is that MSU was not for him (“It’s your school, Mom. I want my own school.”) If I thought he would receive a bad education at ASU, he wouldn’t be going there. The truth is, he is going to get an extraordinary education at a large research university with a diverse population. The Starbucks employees in the Phoenix area who attend classes in person at ASU may raise the bar for that education due to their work ethic and understanding of the value of an education. For that I am grateful to both ASU and Starbucks. Go Devils! (and Go State, of course!) </p>
<p>@gobluemom85. I got my MBA from Michigan, attended nights from 1985 to 1989. I was one of the few non-engineers in the program. I enjoy your posts. </p>
<p>@2kidsOOS. MSU is my undergraduate school. Go Green! My second son is looking at the MSU Honors Program.</p>
<p>Go White! Go State! Lucky you, Beaudreau! The Alumni Distinguished Scholars program as well as the honors college scholarships at State are really excellent. Alas, neither of my children wanted to attend our great undergrad university! I think this past winter here on the East Coast gave my son a taste of what winters might be like at State and he decided it wasn’t for him. That combined with lots of tailgates at Spartan Stadium in his youth made him crave something new. I think it was prophecy that the first time he met Sparty (at the age of 3) he yelled “Look mom, it’s Sparky!” Good luck to your son! </p>
<p>@2KidsOOS. Funny. Strangely enough, my Arizona boy is also interested in Minnesota. I haven’t checked it out, but I don’t think they have the same kind of honors scholarships as MSU. We are waiting on my son’s ACT score to see if he can get a 33, which should qualify him (he missed the National Merit Finalist cut off). But who knows, a lot can change from the time applications are filed until admission and financial aid offers go out. This time last year, my first son had barely heard of Texas A&M. Now he’s heading there in August. I’m sure that your son will love ASU.</p>
<p>MSU and ASU have scheduled football games in 2018 (Tempe) and 2019 (E. Lansing). It should be interesting at your house!</p>
<p>Trailblazing! Wonderful NY Times article about the ASU/Starbucks relationship and more specifically, ASU!</p>
<p><a href=“Opinion | Arizona State Matches Starbucks in Its Trailblazing Ways - The New York Times”>Opinion | Arizona State Matches Starbucks in Its Trailblazing Ways - The New York Times; </p>