Amazon’s Career Choice Program Provides Prepaid Tuition to Eligible Employees to Learn New Skills for Career Success at Amazon or Elsewhere
Highline College was recently selected as an education partner for Amazon’s Career Choice program, providing Amazon’s hourly employees access to certificates, associate degrees and applied bachelor’s degrees within seven Degree Pathways.
“This collaborative partnership with Amazon’s Career Choice will greatly benefit working adult learners in the program,” Highline College President John Mosby said. “We understand the financial challenges involved in earning a college degree but, through this program, our South King County community has the ability to attend Highline via pre-paid tuition. That’s huge, and we couldn’t be more thrilled to partner with Amazon, the largest employer in Washington state, in this way.”
With over 75% students of color, Highline is the most diverse higher education institution in the state. The college offers a wide range of stackable certificates and associate degrees both to transfer and in professional-technical programs. Seven applied bachelor’s degrees are also available for students to choose from in the following fields: cybersecurity and digital forensics; applied management; respiratory care; youth development; early childhood education; elementary education; and integrated design.
Amazon’s Career Choice program is an education benefit that empowers employees to learn new skills for career success at Amazon or elsewhere. The program meets individual learners where they are on their education journey through a variety of education and upskilling opportunities including prepaid college tuition, industry certifications designed to lead to in-demand jobs, and foundational skills such as English language proficiency, high school diplomas, and GEDs. In the U.S., the company is investing $1.2 billion to upskill more than 300,000 employees by 2025 to help move them into higher-paying jobs.
Amazon’s Career Choice program has a rigorous selection process for third-party partner educators, choosing partners that are focused on helping employees through their education programs, assisting them with job placements, and overall offering education that leads to career success.
“We’re looking forward to Highline College coming on board as an education partner for Career Choice, adding to the hundreds of best-in-class offerings available to our employees,” said Tammy Thieman, Amazon’s Director of Career Development Programs. “We’re committed to empowering our employees by providing them access to the education and training they need to grow their careers, whether that’s with us or elsewhere. We have intentionally created a partner network of third-party educators and employers committed to providing excellent education, job placement resources, and continuous improvements to the experience. Today, over 130,000 Amazon employees around the world have participated in Career Choice and we’ve seen first-hand how it can transform their lives.”