Amazon Reveals New College Tuition Benefit For Its US Warehouse Workers

Amazon has announced a new plan to cover its warehouse workers' college tuition costs, among other educational options, as part of its Career Choice program. Though some details are lacking at this time, the company says that some of its workers can qualify for the tuition coverage after only three months spent working for the company.

Amazon announced the new offerings today, explaining that it will shell out $1.2 billion by 2025 to cover various educational fees. The options include funding the costs for workers who want to get a high school diploma, GED, ESL certifications, and college tuition. The new benefits will be available starting in January.

Under the college tuition perk, Amazon says that it will prepay an employee's college tuition and fees rather than using reimbursement. The company says it has "hundreds of education partners" across the US that are eligible for the tuition benefits; up to bachelor's degrees can be funded. Around 750,000 Amazon "operations employees" are eligible under the program.

The benefit is offered to Amazon's hourly employees who are working in the US assuming they've spent at least 90 days working for the company. Amazon also says it will offer three new tuition-free educational programs for participants that expand skillsets in the areas of IT, networking, and similar.

The announcement doesn't include some of the finer details regarding the financial coverage, such as how long the employees may have to stay with the company, under what circumstances an employee may be required to pay back the fees (if such a case exists), and other scenarios that are common to these types of programs. Regardless, the new benefits will greatly improve the appeal of Amazon's often-criticized warehouse jobs.