Disney Boosts Free College Tuition Offerings

by Ray Keating

News

DisneyBizJournal.com

January 13, 2020

Last week, The Walt Disney Company announced that it was adding two more institutions to its Disney Aspire program that offers 100-percent-paid college tuition for employees and cast members.

Purdue University Global and Southern New Hampshire University were added to the network of schools. Through Disney Aspire, the Disney company covers full tuition costs up front, as well as covering books and fees. That’s quite different from other tuition programs whereby employees are reimbursed for tuition costs after course completion, often with the level of reimbursement tied to the grade earned. For good measure, there is no requirement for employees to stay with Disney after completing a degree.

The number of programs in Disney Aspire, which was launched in August 2018, now tops 300, and according to Disney, the other colleges in the 13-school network include University of Arizona, University of Central Florida, Valencia College, Brandman University, University of Florida Online, University of Denver, Wilmington University and Bellevue University.

Disney has committed $125 million to the program over its first five year, adding $25 million each year thereafter.

As noted by MarketWatch.com in September 2019, “‘Companies, now that the labor market is tight, are trying to figure out what’s a smart way to attract and, especially, retain employees,’ said Peter Cappelli, the director of Wharton’s Center for Human Resources at the University of Pennsylvania. And these programs tend to work in that regard, according to a study conducted by Cappelli. He found that offering tuition assistance allows companies to hire better quality and more productive employees, making the cost worth it.”

So, in the end, this is a win-win, with benefits to both the employees and the company.

Ray Keating is the editor, publisher and economist for DisneyBizJournal.com, and author of The Disney Planner 2020: The TO DO List Solutionand the Pastor Stephen Grant novels. He can be contacted at  raykeating@keatingreports.com.