Walmart to Help Associates Get College Degrees

[cookderosa]

I can't tell you how many people I've told about the Big 3, and didn't even try to do anything with it. Dozens. Not a single one has come back with more questions, even these:
1) A friend's husband has VA benefits that will pay for retraining, needs a degree because he's in a dying industry (printing), got laid off, new job is nights that he hates
2) A good friend works at a company that is shifting all of their business to an overseas division over the next couple of years, knows that she is at the top of her pay for her job title, is the last one left in her department, knows that she'll be looking for a new job sooner rather than later, has looked and the only job offer has been for a 25% pay reduction, is single with no kids, has talked multiple times about starting in last 18 months
3) A friend who went to a state school, changed majors 4 times, has 140+ credits, is only 3 classes away from a BA in CJ from EC (English Comp II, Info Lit and the Capstone), and it will only cost her about $3000 to complete her degree (she's also single with no kids).

If I can't convince these 3 people that they need to do something, I don't know who can!! But there you have it.
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Also, the reason companies offer around $5000 (usually) for tuition reimbursement has absolutely nothing to do with Pell grants - they normally don't make you apply for FAFSA as part of the deal, so they're paying that money out. It's because the IRS limit on what they can deduct for tuition reimbursement is $5,250/yr. Has been for so many years it's not funny (I think it was that in the early 90's if I remember correctly).

I think in 2006 or so when I read Accelerated Distance Learning it lt my fire and I ultimately found this board and began my CLEP journey. No question I was evangelical about testing out- probably because for *me* it knocked down the barriers that prevented me from earning a degree previously. Specifically, I couldn't go to class (had 4 babies), didn't have money, and needed to be able to start or stop if necessary. Indy study and testing one CLEP at a time, paid using coins I'd saved in a jar. It only took me 6 months to knock out my AA, but I don't think I knew I could do it when I started. I only remember taking Human Growth and Development as an experiment, to see how hard it was - I've never been great at testing and wasn't sure how hard "college" learning would even be.
That said, motivation has never been my brick wall. I enjoy scoring a goal - checking boxes, but I realize that other people have different needs and goals. It is what it is. This board's traffic is astounding- but I can't imagine the follow through percentage. Maybe 1 in 100, I don't know, but it's probably very low.