About 74 percent of part-time college students work while in school, according to the National Center for Education Statistics, and many of these students participate in tuition reimbursement programs through their employers. With the rising cost of college, it makes good economic sense to get your company to pay for your education and professional development.
Unfortunately, not all companies offer tuition reimbursement as an employee benefit. According to a 2022 survey by the Society for Human Resource Management, only about 48 percent of employers provide tuition assistance in some form. In this article, we explain how tuition reimbursement works and share some major companies that do offer this benefit.
What Is Tuition Reimbursement?
Tuition reimbursement is an employer-led program whereby employees can get their tuition covered for college degrees, continuing education credits, professional certifications, coding bootcamp certificates, or other qualifying work-related education. Only eligible tuition expenses can be reimbursed, which sometimes includes fees, books, and materials.
This education benefit is designed to be mutually beneficial for bosses and workers. On the employer side of things, tuition reimbursement increases employee satisfaction while lowering recruitment costs by decreasing the rate of employee turnover. Employees, on the other hand, are offered the chance to raise their earning potential through free or low-cost education.
How Does Tuition Reimbursement Work?
The way tuition reimbursement works varies very little from company to company. Most employers partner with a few educational institutions and keep a list of eligible programs for employees to choose from. Once participants get their manager to approve their selection, they complete the program and then apply for tuition reimbursement after the program has ended.
The rules for tuition reimbursement can be strict. To be eligible, employees usually have to be with the company for a set period of time and then work a minimum number of hours per week. Temporary, seasonal, and contract workers are typically not eligible. Moreover, yearly and lifetime maximums often apply, with most companies setting an annual cap of $5,250.
Top 10 Companies That Offer Tuition Reimbursement
Many companies that offer tuition reimbursement are major employers of people at a crossroads in their careers. These companies relish the opportunity to provide employees with pathways for professional development. By working for any of the companies on this list, you can earn a decent wage in the present while lowering the educational costs of career advancement.
Amazon
- Average Hourly Wage: $17.93
- Tuition Reimbursement Requirements: Employee must work at Amazon for at least 90 days, benefit capped at $5,250 per year
- Eligible Credentials: High school diploma, GED, English proficiency certificates, bachelor’s degrees, vocational and technical degrees
Amazon’s tuition reimbursement program is called Amazon Career Choice, and its three categories of coverage are College, Pathways, and Foundations. Participants who select the College option can get their tuition and fees prepaid up to the annual maximum. Foundations is for employees who wish to improve in their current roles, and Pathways is for career advancers.
Bank of America
- Average Hourly Wage: $24.02
- Tuition Reimbursement Requirements: Employee must work at Bank of America for at least 6 months, benefit capped at $7,500 per year
- Eligible Credentials: College degrees, academic certificates, professional certifications
Within the last few years, Bank of America has overhauled its standard benefits package to make itself more attractive to potential employees. The annual cap for its tuition assistance program has increased by $2,250, and eligible employees can now choose from a wider range of credentials. Employees with children also now have access to college counseling services.
Best Buy
- Average Hourly Wage: $15.40
- Tuition Reimbursement Requirements: Employee must work at Best Buy for at least 6 months, benefit capped at $3,500 per year for undergraduate degrees or $5,250 per year for graduate degrees
- Eligible Credentials: Undergraduate degree programs, graduate degree programs, select career training programs
Best Buy’s tuition reimbursement benefit is pitched to employees as a means to achieve better work-life balance through personal growth and professional development. Employees can use the benefit towards any in-person or online program as long as it is deemed relevant to their current job. Employees may also be eligible for scholarships and other education discounts.
Chipotle
- Average Hourly Wage: $12.96
- Tuition Reimbursement Requirements: Select programs eligible for 100% tuition coverage, benefit for other courses capped at $5,250 per year
- Eligible Credentials: High school diploma, undergraduate degrees, graduate degrees, academic certificates, English proficiency certificates
Chipotle offers a tuition reimbursement benefit through Guild Education, which has an extensive catalog of academic programs for which the entire cost is covered, including self-paced and online courses. Under the policy, books and program fees are also covered. If you don’t know which degree or certificate to choose, Guild’s team of coaches is there to guide you.
CVS
- Average Hourly Wage: $16.91
- Tuition Reimbursement Requirements: Employee must either work at CVS for at least 30 hours per week or have been working at CVS for at least 90 days, benefit capped at $3,000 per year for degree programs or $1,500 per year for non-degree programs
- Eligible Credentials: High school diploma, associate degrees, bachelor’s degrees, master’s degrees, professional certificates
CVS’s tuition reimbursement program is part of the company’s broader push to make secondary and postsecondary education more accessible to its employees. Thanks to its partnerships with Colorado Technical University and Strategic Education Inc., certain degree programs are available at $0 out-of-pocket cost. In total, CVS partners with over 230 educational institutions.
FedEx Ground
- Average Hourly Wage: $19.32
- Tuition Reimbursement Requirements: Employee must work as a FedEx package handler for at least 60 days, benefit capped at $5,250 per year
- Eligible Credentials: Undergraduate degrees, graduate degrees, vocational and technical school diplomas
FedEx couriers are encouraged to take advantage of tuition reimbursement for as long as they work for the company. In addition to college degrees, some technical and vocational courses are eligible for the benefit. FedEx also offers employees exclusive access to a tuition discount through Robert Morris University, which can be used towards an online degree.
Starbucks
- Average Hourly Wage: $12.68
- Tuition Reimbursement Requirements: Employee must either work full-time or work part-time for at least 240 hours over the first three months of employment, tuition is fully covered for participants who fill out the Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA)
- Eligible Credentials: Bachelor’s degrees from ASU Online
Called the College Achievement Plan, Starbucks’ tuition reimbursement program is designed to give employees tuition-free access to bachelor’s degree programs through the online campus of Arizona State University. Additional education expenses, such as textbooks and laptops, are not covered, but over 100 online degree programs are eligible for 100 percent tuition assistance.
Target
- Average Hourly Wage: $16.21
- Tuition Reimbursement Requirements: Select programs eligible for 100% tuition coverage, benefit for other courses capped at $5,250 per year
- Eligible Credentials: High school diploma, undergraduate degrees, graduate degrees, academic certificates, coding bootcamp certificates, English proficiency certificates
Target is another company that works with Guild Education to offer a tuition reimbursement employee benefit. Like other companies that use Guild, Target is able to provide complete coverage for a few educational programs, including fees and books. Target is also one of the only companies to explicitly include coding bootcamps among its eligible programs.
UPS
- Average Hourly Wage: $18.92
- Tuition Reimbursement Requirements: Employee must work at a participating location, benefit capped at $5,250 per year and $25,000 lifetime
- Eligible Credentials: All credentials
As long as you work at a UPS location that participates in the company’s Earn & Learn program, you can get all of your tuition costs covered up to the yearly maximum. One of the unique benefits of this educational assistance program is that UPS does not have any course restrictions. One downside is that there is a lifetime cap on employees’ tuition benefits.
Walmart
- Average Hourly Wage: $13.34
- Tuition Reimbursement Requirements: Employee must fill out FAFSA to qualify, all participating programs are 100% covered
- Eligible Credentials: High school diploma, college prep courses, professional certificates, college degrees
Walmart’s tuition reimbursement program, run by Guild Education, is one of the only such programs to cover all your education costs. With no annual or lifetime maximum, Walmart simply requires employees to choose from a list of roughly 60 approved programs, most of which are geared toward in-demand jobs at Walmart.
Other Jobs With Tuition Reimbursement Programs
Jobs that offer tuition reimbursement are more common than ever. The perk often plays a key role in employee retention, and it’s possible that a tuition reimbursement policy is included in your benefits package. To give you a fuller sense of the policies that companies tend to adopt, here are a few more examples of education assistance programs.
| Company | Requirements for Tuition Reimbursement | Eligible Credentials |
|---|---|---|
| AT&T | Employee must have full-time or part-time employment status Program must benefit both the employee and AT&T Tuition Reimbursement Application must be submitted within 60 days of course completion |
Undergraduate degrees Master’s degrees Udacity Nanodegrees |
| Apple | Employee must have worked at Apple for six months Employee must work at least 20 hours per week Benefit capped at $5,250 per year |
Subject to manager’s discretion |
| Deloitte | Employee must be a high-performing consultant Employee must have worked at Deloitte for two years Application for Deloitte tuition assistance must precede application to the qualifying academic program |
Master of Business Administration (MBA) |
| Benefit capped at $12,000 per year Employee must earn at least a B |
Any credential relevant to the employee’s career path | |
| Home Depot | Employee must have full-time or part-time status Course must start after the employee has begun work at Home Depot Employee must earn at least a C |
Associate degrees Bachelor’s degrees Master’s degrees PhD degrees Any other credential from an accredited school |
| Kaiser | Employee must work at least 20 hours per week Benefit capped at $3,000 per year |
Associate degrees Bachelor’s degrees Master’s degrees Continuing education units |
| McDonald’s | Employee must have worked at McDonald’s for at least 90 days Employee must work at least 15 hours per week Benefit capped at $2,500 per year |
Any accredited program at a college, university, business school, vocational school, technical school, or graduate school |
| Microsoft | Employee must work at Microsoft full-time Benefit capped at $10,000 per year |
Subject to manager’s discretion |
| Nike | Benefit capped at $5,250 per year | Continuing education units |
| Wells Fargo | Employee must have full-time or part-time employment status Benefit capped at $5,000 per year |
Subject to company’s discretion |
Pros and Cons of Tuition Reimbursement Programs
While tuition reimbursement is usually a win-win proposition for employers and employees, there are a few downsides that you should consider before applying to work for a company that offers to cover all or part of your tuition as one of its educational benefits. The main pros and cons of tuition reimbursement are summarized below.
Pro: Streamlined Career Growth
Nobody wants to be stuck in a job that they feel is beneath their potential, and with tuition reimbursement programs, nobody has to choose between work and school. Most forms of education reimbursement are structured around work-related courses, and by having these options laid out for them, employees get a clear picture of how they can get ahead.
Con: Low Yearly Maximums
The standard tuition reimbursement program only covers tuition expenses up to $5,250 per year, which is the amount dictated by most companies’ tax incentives. While this may seem like a generous benefit, the average cost of tuition at four-year schools is $9,400 according to the National Center of Education Statistics, so you could end up paying a lot out of pocket anyway.
Pro: Variety of Eligible Program Options
While most companies that offer tuition reimbursement want their employees to choose relevant coursework, there are actually quite a few education programs beyond college courses that your boss will likely be willing to approve. From English proficiency classes to professional certifications to coding bootcamps, you’re likely to have plenty of options.
Con: Strict Work Requirements
Unfortunately, tuition reimbursement is a benefit that many companies reserve for full-time employees only. The companies whose tuition assistance policies do encompass both full-time and part-time employees tend to require a minimum number of weekly hours worked before the benefit kicks in. Suffice it to say that juggling college coursework with a full-time job is not easy.
Pro: Tax Benefits
Getting your tuition fees reimbursed is obviously an affordable way to pursue higher education, but it’s even cheaper when you consider that the reimbursed funds are not classified as taxable income. If you were to spend your own hard-earned money on tuition, you might end up owing Uncle Sam a percentage of what you spent as income tax.
Con: Upfront Out-of-Pocket Expenses
Tax benefits notwithstanding, one of the downsides of tuition reimbursement is the fact that you will have to spend your own money at the outset. This is not without risk. Not only will you have less disposable income while you’re taking classes, but there’s also always the chance that you fail to meet your employer’s requirements, in which case you won’t get reimbursed.
How to Get Tuition Reimbursement From Your Employer
Even if the company you work for is not mentioned in this article, you may be able to get tuition reimbursement from your employer by asking your HR representative. Only about 50 percent of workers know everything that’s in their benefits packages, so it’s entirely possible that your employer already offers tuition reimbursement or some other form of tuition assistance.
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In the event that your employer does not offer tuition reimbursement, you should still talk to HR about your options. Your company could start offering tuition assistance if you and your coworkers express enough interest, or it may offer other educational benefits that can help you achieve your career goals. Tuition reimbursement is smart business, and it never hurts to ask.
Tuition Reimbursement FAQs
Most tuition reimbursement plans are not taxed because employers tend to abide by the IRS’s rules for such programs, which specify a limit of $5,250 for employer-provided educational assistance. If your employer offers to cover tuition expenses above that amount, you may end up owing taxes on it. There are, however, other tax exemptions you may be eligible for.
Tuition reimbursement does not typically cover student loans. The intent of these plans is to cover the cost of future education, not to help employees deal with existing student loan debt. If you’re hoping to pay off student loans through your job, you should check with HR to see whether your company offers Student Loan Repayment Plans.
The difference between tuition reimbursement and tuition assistance has to do with when you have access to the funds. Whereas tuition assistance programs pay the program cost on behalf of the employee, tuition reimbursement programs pay the employee back following successful completion of the course or term.
Yes, many companies offer tuition assistance or tuition reimbursement for coding bootcamp programs. If you’re in a profession for which coding skills could be useful, you should ask your employer to sponsor your coding bootcamp. Some bootcamps, such as General Assembly and Coding Temple, work with prospective students on securing sponsorships from their employers.
About us: Career Karma is a platform designed to help job seekers find, research, and connect with job training programs to advance their careers. Learn about the CK publication.
