{"id":2302,"date":"2023-07-05T09:00:49","date_gmt":"2023-07-05T16:00:49","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ecampus.oregonstate.edu\/news\/?p=2302"},"modified":"2026-02-20T09:52:29","modified_gmt":"2026-02-20T17:52:29","slug":"tuition-benefit-programs","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ecampus.oregonstate.edu\/news\/tuition-benefit-programs\/","title":{"rendered":"3 decisions executives should make when launching a tuition benefit program"},"content":{"rendered":"<h2>Is your organization building or expanding an employee tuition benefit program? Start here.<\/h2>\n<div class=\"editor-note\"><strong>Editor&#8217;s note:<\/strong> This story was originally published on the Oregon State University <a href=\"https:\/\/educationalventures.oregonstate.edu\/news\/tuition-benefit-programs\/\">Division of Educational Ventures news site<\/a>.<\/div>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Any successful business knows that running an organization requires much more than offering a valuable service or product. It also requires the ability to recruit the right employees, retain talented workers and provide opportunities for them to hone their skills or develop new ones that align to innovation goals.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">There isn\u2019t one right way to achieve these goals, but there is one that is producing great results now more than ever \u2014 offering tuition assistance or reimbursement benefits to your employees. <\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">As staffing challenges persist, a tuition benefit program:<\/span><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Demonstrates to employees that you will invest in their professional success.<\/li>\n<li>Offers incentives<span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> aimed at preparing workers for career pathways within the organization.<\/span><\/li>\n<li>Is an effective way to create an internal pool of qualified candidates.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h3><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">But how do you start a tuition benefit program? <\/span><\/h3>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Companies often share that they know a lot about their industry, but they\u2019re not sure how to work with universities in this manner. That\u2019s to be expected.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">At Oregon State University Ecampus, we help organizations navigate these fundamental questions every day. We\u2019ve developed collaborations and established relationships over the years with a diverse mix of organizations across North America including Amazon, the federal government, Peet\u2019s Coffee, the Professional Hockey Players\u2019 Association and more.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">With that firsthand experience in mind, here are the top three actions that leaders should take to evolve their businesses and positively impact their workforce.<\/span><\/p>\n<h3>1. Articulate a clear vision of what you are trying to achieve.<\/h3>\n<p>Are you trying to train existing employees to do new jobs within your company? <span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">This is especially important as job requirements evolve. In a<\/span> <a href=\"https:\/\/www.deloitte.com\/global\/en\/issues\/work\/skills-based-organizations.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">2022 study by Deloitte<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, 65% of workers said the skills and capabilities required to perform their jobs had changed in the previous two years.<\/span><\/p>\n<p>If reskilling and retraining is a goal of your organization, you may choose to get specific about which programs you will cover. Chipotle, through a\u00a0partnership with <a href=\"https:\/\/ecampus.oregonstate.edu\/news\/guild-education-collaboration\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Guild<\/a>, offers full-pay tuition benefits to employees,\u00a0with a focus on programs that are specific to their business including hospitality management and business administration.<\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Or are you more focused on recruiting and retention? If this is the case, offering a more diverse portfolio of programs may fit the bill. Amazon enables its workers to choose from a broad collection of academic offerings \u2014 more than 300 Oregon State degrees, certificates and microcredentials online or on campus \u2014 through the<\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/admissions.oregonstate.edu\/amazon-career-choice\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"> <span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Amazon Career Choice program<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">.<\/span><\/p>\n<h3>2. Decide how much of a benefit to offer and the payment structure.<\/h3>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">You should determine early on how your organization would like to structure the disbursement of the tuition benefits, how much the company is willing to fund per student and who is eligible.<\/span><\/p>\n<p>When you collaborate with Oregon State Ecampus, you are in the driver\u2019s seat in terms of how to structure the billing process and eligibility. Our agility in these areas allows you to tailor the plan to your needs.<\/p>\n<p>Here are a few examples of benefit types and payment agreements:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><b>Capped benefit:<\/b> <span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">You set a maximum dollar amount you\u2019re willing to pay for a student\u2019s educational expenses in a given year. Once that amount is reached, the student assumes financial responsibility for additional tuition and course material expenses. Employers can offer up to $5,250 per year in tax-deductible tuition reimbursement for college courses, and the benefit is not taxable to employees.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><b>Full-pay benefit:<\/b> <span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Some corporate collaborators elect to cover all tuition expenses for employees, which enables workers to focus on gaining new skills and knowledge while maintaining their careers \u2014 all without the financial burden of a higher education.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><b>Direct bill:<\/b> <span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Your organization is billed directly for every student employee\u2019s tuition and materials. This allows the individual to focus on their education rather than balancing payments and financial deadlines.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h3>3. Consult with Oregon State to create a tailored collaboration to fit your needs.<\/h3>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Your organization has unique innovation goals, unique employee knowledge gaps and a unique purpose. That\u2019s why we\u2019ll co-create a custom plan that fits your organization\u2019s needs and aligns with the best interests of both the employer and employee.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">In the process we\u2019ll offer details on our decades-long track record of success in delivering the highest-quality learning opportunities online to working professionals. And you\u2019ll learn how your workforce needs can help influence the types of programs OSU delivers online.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Offering a tuition benefit program will help your organization stand out as a preferred employer and differentiate itself in a highly competitive landscape. In the process, you\u2019ll prove to your employees that you\u2019re committed to their advancement, and you\u2019ll help develop a more expertly skilled workforce that can help your organization flourish.<\/span><\/p>\n<p>Collaborate with Oregon State, and build for the future now.<\/p>\n<hr \/>\n<p><em>Learn more about the benefits of collaborating with Oregon State University and how to connect with us.<\/em><\/p>\n<h3 id=\"rfi-button\" class=\"button\"><a href=\"https:\/\/educationalventures.oregonstate.edu\/corporate-workforce-education\/\">Explore our website<\/a><\/h3>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p><span class=\"span-reading-time rt-reading-time\" style=\"display: block;\"><span class=\"rt-label rt-prefix\"><\/span> <span class=\"rt-time\"> 3<\/span> <span class=\"rt-label rt-postfix\">minute read<\/span><\/span>Offering tuition assistance or reimbursement benefits is a proven way to recruit and retain talented employees. But how do you start a tuition benefit program? Here are the top three actions that leaders should take to evolve their businesses and positively impact their workforce.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":86,"featured_media":2312,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1,661,6,702,679],"tags":[662,664,655,598],"class_list":["post-2302","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-all","category-corporate-and-workforce-education-unit","category-ecampus","category-educational-ventures","category-leadership-and-innovation","tag-division-of-educational-ventures","tag-featured-division-of-educational-ventures","tag-microcredentials","tag-workforce-education"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/ecampus.oregonstate.edu\/news\/assets\/N00002-CEU-News-230609-800x450-1.jpg?fit=800%2C450&ssl=1","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p7BNSE-B8","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":2692,"url":"https:\/\/ecampus.oregonstate.edu\/news\/oregon-association-chiefs-of-police-collaboration\/","url_meta":{"origin":2302,"position":0},"title":"OSU teams with Oregon police chiefs association, offers tuition benefit to 6,500+ employees","author":"Tyler Hansen","date":"December 4, 2024","format":false,"excerpt":"Editor's note: This story was originally published on the Oregon State University Division of Educational Ventures news site. 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CORVALLIS, Ore. \u2014 A new collaboration between Oregon State University and the Technology Association of Oregon is expanding access to high-quality online education for an estimated 90,000 employees of TAO member organizations.\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;All Stories&quot;","block_context":{"text":"All Stories","link":"https:\/\/ecampus.oregonstate.edu\/news\/category\/all\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"A woman stands working inside a server room, positioned between tall black server racks. She is holding and examining a digital tablet.","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/ecampus.oregonstate.edu\/news\/assets\/TAO-news-800x450-1.jpg?fit=800%2C450&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/ecampus.oregonstate.edu\/news\/assets\/TAO-news-800x450-1.jpg?fit=800%2C450&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/ecampus.oregonstate.edu\/news\/assets\/TAO-news-800x450-1.jpg?fit=800%2C450&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/ecampus.oregonstate.edu\/news\/assets\/TAO-news-800x450-1.jpg?fit=800%2C450&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":2375,"url":"https:\/\/ecampus.oregonstate.edu\/news\/samaritan-health-services-osu-collaboration\/","url_meta":{"origin":2302,"position":2},"title":"6,000 Samaritan employees eligible for scholarships to learn online thanks to new Oregon State collaboration","author":"Tyler Hansen","date":"October 10, 2023","format":false,"excerpt":"Oregon State University is expanding its relationship with Samaritan Health Services to provide thousands of the regional health system\u2019s employees with more affordable access to academic programs and workforce education opportunities online.","rel":"","context":"In &quot;All Stories&quot;","block_context":{"text":"All Stories","link":"https:\/\/ecampus.oregonstate.edu\/news\/category\/all\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"A doctor talks with her patient while pointing out information on a clipboard.","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/ecampus.oregonstate.edu\/news\/assets\/CEU-Samaritan-1280x550-1.jpg?fit=1200%2C516&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/ecampus.oregonstate.edu\/news\/assets\/CEU-Samaritan-1280x550-1.jpg?fit=1200%2C516&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/ecampus.oregonstate.edu\/news\/assets\/CEU-Samaritan-1280x550-1.jpg?fit=1200%2C516&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/ecampus.oregonstate.edu\/news\/assets\/CEU-Samaritan-1280x550-1.jpg?fit=1200%2C516&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/ecampus.oregonstate.edu\/news\/assets\/CEU-Samaritan-1280x550-1.jpg?fit=1200%2C516&ssl=1&resize=1050%2C600 3x"},"classes":[]},{"id":2830,"url":"https:\/\/ecampus.oregonstate.edu\/news\/collaboration-lawrence-livermore-national-laboratory\/","url_meta":{"origin":2302,"position":3},"title":"Collaboration with Oregon State gives Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory employees scholarships to learn online, gain skills","author":"Tyler Hansen","date":"July 23, 2025","format":false,"excerpt":"Oregon State University and Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory have launched a new collaboration that gives the research and development center\u2019s nearly 10,000 employees expanded access to high-quality and more affordable learning opportunities online.","rel":"","context":"In &quot;All Stories&quot;","block_context":{"text":"All Stories","link":"https:\/\/ecampus.oregonstate.edu\/news\/category\/all\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"A woman in a lab coat, safety goggles and purple gloves uses a wash bottle in a laboratory with chemical containers visible in the background.","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/ecampus.oregonstate.edu\/news\/assets\/Heather-Bell-800x540-1.jpg?fit=1200%2C675&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/ecampus.oregonstate.edu\/news\/assets\/Heather-Bell-800x540-1.jpg?fit=1200%2C675&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/ecampus.oregonstate.edu\/news\/assets\/Heather-Bell-800x540-1.jpg?fit=1200%2C675&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/ecampus.oregonstate.edu\/news\/assets\/Heather-Bell-800x540-1.jpg?fit=1200%2C675&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/ecampus.oregonstate.edu\/news\/assets\/Heather-Bell-800x540-1.jpg?fit=1200%2C675&ssl=1&resize=1050%2C600 3x"},"classes":[]},{"id":1998,"url":"https:\/\/ecampus.oregonstate.edu\/news\/amazon-career-choice-collaboration\/","url_meta":{"origin":2302,"position":4},"title":"Amazon teams with Oregon State to offer statewide employees tuition benefit to learn on campus, online","author":"Tyler Hansen","date":"April 28, 2022","format":false,"excerpt":"Oregon State University formed a collaboration that enables Amazon hourly employees in Oregon to pursue a college degree by enrolling in OSU courses on campus and online. 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On a new episode of the \u201cTechlandia\u201d podcast, Tom Weller \u2014 the head of OSU's School of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science \u2014 shares how the\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;All Stories&quot;","block_context":{"text":"All Stories","link":"https:\/\/ecampus.oregonstate.edu\/news\/category\/all\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"A close-up of colorful semiconductor wafers with intricate circuit patterns used in microchip manufacturing.","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/ecampus.oregonstate.edu\/news\/assets\/seminconductor-800X450.jpg?fit=800%2C450&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/ecampus.oregonstate.edu\/news\/assets\/seminconductor-800X450.jpg?fit=800%2C450&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/ecampus.oregonstate.edu\/news\/assets\/seminconductor-800X450.jpg?fit=800%2C450&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/ecampus.oregonstate.edu\/news\/assets\/seminconductor-800X450.jpg?fit=800%2C450&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x"},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ecampus.oregonstate.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2302","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ecampus.oregonstate.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ecampus.oregonstate.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ecampus.oregonstate.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/86"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ecampus.oregonstate.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2302"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/ecampus.oregonstate.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2302\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ecampus.oregonstate.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2312"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ecampus.oregonstate.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2302"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ecampus.oregonstate.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2302"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ecampus.oregonstate.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2302"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}