Wal-Mart employees get course discounts

The Associated Press

The Tampa Tribune

Published: June 4, 2010

LITTLE ROCK, Ark. – Wal-Mart Stores Inc. announced a program Thursday in which its workers can receive college credit from the online American Public University and receive a tuition discount from the school.

The company also said it will commit $50 million over three years to help workers pay for books and tuition above the reduced tuition rate.

After the reduction, tuition will cost $212.50 per undergraduate credit hour and $255 for graduate credits.

Wal-Mart Chief Administrative Officer Tom Mars said the program grew out of a commitment to cultivate talent within the company.

The plan is open to domestic workers at Walmart and Sam’s Club stores.

“We wanted to create a new way of thinking about what we call associate opportunity,” Mars said.

Alicia Ledlie, Wal-Mart senior director for associate development, said nearly three-quarters of the company’s workers contacted in a survey said they preferred online study to attending a local college.

Ledlie said Wal-Mart looked at 81 colleges, including brick-and-mortar schools, and found American Public University, based in Charles Town, W.Va., to be the best fit.

Sara Martinez Tucker, a former U.S. undersecretary of education who is on Wal-Mart’s external advisory council, said the company would have had to form a tremendous coalition of schools to offer a similar program through local community colleges and universities.

Now to read the details…..