Walmart to Help Associates Get College Degrees

[MNomadic]

I followed up and found the specific programs that are currently included in Walmart's program:

https://www.guildeducation.com/partners/walmart/college

Of note is the Brandman MyPath business admin bachelors since it is competency based similar to WGU I believe. So if someone wanted(and had the time), they could theoretically work at walmart part time for 90 days to become eligible for the college benefit and rush through the program(hopefully they have a generous transfer policy) graduate with their degree and be done with walmart in under a year.

[sanantone]

So, you're limited to business administration, supply chain, and general education degrees?

[MNomadic]

Yes, that was part of their original announcement. Lol otherwise I'd have already applied.

[jsd]

Is their a time commitment to WalMart afterwards (beyond the initial 90 days before you can start)? For example, if I leave my employer within a year after a tuition reimbursement, i'd be on the hook for paying them back (in theory, I don't know of any specific examples where this was triggered).

[MNomadic]

When I looked into it initially, there didn't seem to be any job obligation afterwards.

[sanantone]

Yes, that was part of their original announcement. Lol otherwise I'd have already applied.

I didn't thoroughly read the whole article.   

This completely changes my mind about the program. The associate's in general education is helpful to everyone because you can save money on the first two years. If you're desperate, a free degree is a free degree. However, this wouldn't be something I'd recommend to my children, if I had any, unless they really wanted a business administration degree. This country produced about 600,000 business degree holders in 2016 with most of those degrees being in business administration, management, or general business. Almost 300k people with business degrees had a job that didn't require a college degree in 2016.

[MNomadic]

That may be true of the general business degree but I believe there is growing demand for the supply chain degree. However, that one I believe would be at a normal, multi year pace.

[dfrecore]

Yes, that was part of their original announcement. Lol otherwise I'd have already applied.

Almost 300k people with business degrees had a job that didn't require a college degree in 2016.

Yes, but how many of them applied for jobs that didn't require a college degree to do, but the company said "it sure would be nice if you had one" and then chucked everyone who didn't have a degree to whittle down the pile?  Just because a job doesn't "require" a degree doesn't mean companies don't use that as a way to get rid of everyone who doesn't have one.  I think requiring a degree for MOST jobs is stupid, but that's the way it is these days.  Stupid, but a fact.

[sanantone]

Yes, that was part of their original announcement. Lol otherwise I'd have already applied.

Almost 300k people with business degrees had a job that didn't require a college degree in 2016.

Yes, but how many of them applied for jobs that didn't require a college degree to do, but the company said "it sure would be nice if you had one" and then chucked everyone who didn't have a degree to whittle down the pile?  Just because a job doesn't "require" a degree doesn't mean companies don't use that as a way to get rid of everyone who doesn't have one.  I think requiring a degree for MOST jobs is stupid, but that's the way it is these days.  Stupid, but a fact.

That's something to take into consideration if you're aiming that low. If you're looking for a career that requires a bachelor's degree, then you should take into consideration supply and demand. There is an oversupply of people with bachelor's degrees in business, psychology, biology, and criminal justice.

[cookderosa]

I believe that Walmart requires managers to have a bachelor's degree. This would certainly allow those who started work without a degree to earn their degree while they worked their way toward manager's eligibility.

Their warehouse system, btw, is MAMOUTH. Remember it includes Sam's Clubs too. My oldest son works in logistics for a grocery distribution center that serves 7 states. He is very well paid considering, but, you can't work your way up beyond managing the warehouse unless you formally study logistics and supply chain. That field is insane btw. COMPLETELY having been disrupted by Amazon, the entire industry is scrambling to find people, train people, and educate them to get in front of this. Ask yourself when was the last time you ordered something online? Expectations were probably that you'd get free shipping and that you'd have it in under a week. The gears that crank that out need very skilled and educated people to run the SYSTEM and innovate. (Not to pick boxes and drive trucks- anyone can learn that)

IF I could convince my oldest son to do so, he'd be earning his micromasters through the MIT edX partnership and traveling to MIT to finish the master's degree. That's considered to be a (the?) top logistics and supply chain program in the country. Someone could REALLY be resourceful by working for Walmart to earn a living while getting a supply chain /logistics undergrad for free and then roll into the micromasters then to MIT. You could be there from zero to hero in 5 years.