Discover Financial Services is expanding the list of schools where employees can obtain college degrees online at no cost, adding the University of Arizona and Paul Quinn College, one of 107 historically Black colleges and universities in the U.S.
The move comes three years after the lender formalized its longtime tuition-reimbursement program, now called Discover College Commitment, and began covering the full cost of obtaining a four-year college degree. Discover already covered tuition to Wilmington University and Brandman University; the new additions bring the total number of schools to four.
Since the program’s debut, Discover has seen employee participation triple, from about 400 students at the end of 2017 to 1,250 in 2020. Eighty of the company’s 17,500 employees have obtained bachelor’s degrees online through this program.
Last month Discover introduced the College Start program to encourage employees to take college-level courses by earning up to 13 credits, or four classes, that can transfer to eligible undergraduate colleges, according to Discover.
"We expect the number of students graduating with bachelor's degrees to increase significantly as the program matures," Jennifer Burns, Discover's head of taltent brand, said by email.
Including a historically Black college in the program is part of Discover’s strategy to increase diversity in more areas of the organization.
Paul Quinn College is one of nine institutions designated as “work colleges” by the U.S. Department of Education. These colleges require resident students to work every semester for all four years of enrollment to offset tuition costs with funds provided by the federal government.
Established in 1872, Paul Quinn is a Dallas-based private school with 550 students in Texas who are 98% Black or Hispanic. Among other subjects, the school offers online courses in accounting, finance, marketing, management and leadership.
“The addition of Paul Quinn College and the recently announced
In addition to the four schools now covered by College Commitment, Discover offers some tuition reimbursement for undergraduate and graduate degrees from institutions including Bellevue University and University of Denver. Discover works with Guild Education, a private company based in Denver, to manage its education benefits.
Using Guild’s tools to weigh the expense of recruiting and retaining employees versus education costs, Discover estimates it’s earned a $1.72 return on investment for each dollar spent on workers’ educations.
Employees can participate in Discover's free education programs from the first day of their job and there is no limit to the amount of classes employees can take through the program.
