Uber and ASU to pay for college

[MNomadic]

http://amp.abc15.com/3047762761/asu-part...grees.html

Wow! I just saw this and had to share. It sounds like an even better deal than the partnership Starbucks has with ASU. Once I find the details, I may start driving for Uber.

[MNomadic]

If only this could apply to graduate degrees...

[cookderosa]

If only this could apply to graduate degrees...

truth. There are lots of bachelor's degree holders that driver for Uber.

[Life Long Learning]

http://amp.abc15.com/3047762761/asu-part...grees.html

Wow! I just saw this and had to share. It sounds like an even better deal than the partnership Starbucks has with ASU. Once I find the details, I may start driving for Uber.

This is unique?

Uber and ASU will allow drivers to pass coverage to family members, including spouses, children, siblings, parents, legal guardians, domestic partners or dependents.

[sanantone]

I wonder how long it would take to complete 3,000 rides.

[cookderosa]

I wonder how long it would take to complete 3,000 rides.

That's a great question. I found this infographic and survey (2018) https://www.ridester.com/2018-survey/
"The 2018 Ridester Independent Driver-Earnings Survey (RIDES) is based on 2,625 driver respondents, including screenshots of driver earnings from 719 drivers. This makes it one of the largest and most comprehensive independent driver earnings studies undertaken to date."

I think people all are very curious about the pay, so it was easier to find info about the pay than it was about the number of trips. The survey shows just about half of drivers work only about half of a year before leaving the company (not just Uber, all rideshares) so no matter how long it takes, the number of eligible Uber drivers is probably small to start with.

In their own bullets it says:

"58.3% of our driver respondents are over 50 years old.
55.1% of our respondents reported having a college education. 10.7% reported having post-graduate degrees."

So, now I'm thinking the number of people who will even choose to take advantage of the edu program is about minuscule. (maybe Uber already knew that)

They do show a screen shot of a "typical" driver that makes just under $90 per day (so this is someone doing this as a living, not as a side hustle) and it showed 7 trips.

If you work 5 days per week and conducted 7 trips per day *lets give a motivated person some extra credit and call it 40 trips per week*

3000 / 40 = 75 weeks of full time driving.

So, we're looking at about 1 1/2 years with Uber before this benefit would kick in. I think it's awesome, but I also don't think Uber will be writing a lot of tuition checks.

[MNomadic]

It's also limited to only 8 cities initially and only Uber drivers with a certain status(I believe 4.85 rating after their 3000 trips). So you're right, definitely not a lot of people will even be able to use that. Also, one has to be 21 years old to drive for Uber. So even if someone started on their 21st birthday, and knocked out those 3000 trips in a year, the earliest they could take advantage would be at age 22, when many "traditional" college students are about to graduate.

[natshar]

Yes a good program but a lot of requirements.

First you have to be 21 and meet the requirements to be an uber driver, then you have to 3,000 rides, a good star rating and live in one of the participating cities. And you have to want to go to ASU online specifically.

I'm sure a big reason people choose to be Uber drivers is because of the flexibility of the schedule. It allows people to do other things with their time, like go to school. Uber is a great job to fit in with a college student at any school, plus with Pell grants, scholarships or tuition reimbursement from working another job it makes it possible to attend any school not just one specific one.

This is a good idea and good for the companies public image, but I wonder how many people will actually go through with it. How many would meet the requirements? I'm not sure how many people have been driving Uber for years in one of those cities, don't have a bachelors degree and would like to get one online. Honestly, if they are driving for years and enjoy it, its not like getting a college degree suddenly gets passengers to pay their driver more.

[cookderosa]

There are free tuition programs for days- but like this one, there are always requirements that make it appeal to only the most motivated person. Still, I say "bring it on" the more programs like this, the better imo.

[MNomadic]

There are free tuition programs for days- but like this one, there are always requirements that make it appeal to only the most motivated person. Still, I say "bring it on" the more programs like this, the better imo.

Absolutely! I agree that it's great to have more options out there(even if some are pretty limited).
Slightly unrelated:
I think the country has been focusing WAY too hard on specifically bachelor's degrees. For some students who either aren't strong academically or are not interested in college related fields there are so many missed opportunities for great training in various trades and technical/vocational programs which can lead to great careers. So many people who just aren't meant to pursue college for different reasons get stuck in dead end jobs and dead end lives because there isn't much awareness for other opportunities.