https://www.vox.com/2018/6/1/17413326/walmart-college-tuition-worker-pay-unemployment

«The Walmart program is limited to online degree programs offered by three schools — the University of Florida, Brandman University, and Bellevue University — and specifically focused on bachelor’s or associate degrees in either business or supply chain management.

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Unlike higher cash wages (which of course can be used for online college tuition as well as rent, gasoline, movie tickets, medical expenses, etc.), the tuition benefit is likely to be disproportionately appealing to people who are on the more ambitious end of the distribution. It’s an effort, in other words, to make Walmart more attractive specifically to the most appealing set of potential workers, a strategy other companies have pursued in recent years.

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Academic research shows that workers who are interested in tuition subsidies are different from workers who are not. While everyone likes money, Peter Cappelli’s 2002 research indicates that the workers who like tuition subsidies are more productive than those who don’t, and Colleen Manchester’s 2012 research shows that subsidy-using employees have longer time horizons and are less likely to switch jobs.»