Starbucks expects to spend up to $250 million to help approximately 25,000 employees pay for the full cost of an online degree offered by the Arizona State University.
The program, which is offered to those who work at least 20 hours a week with the coffeehouse chain, "demonstrates the conscience of the company and our ability to try and do everything we can to help our people get access to college," Starbucks Chairman and Chief Executive Howard Schultz said in an interview with the Wall Street Journal.
Although Starbucks began its partnership with Arizona State University last year, only partial funding was provided for the sponsorship. Now, the multinational corporation will provide funds for the entire cost of tuition.
Employees receiving funds from Starbucks who are exploring an online degree with the academic institution will be able to leave the company at any moment without facing the threat of retracted funding.
Starbucks' initiative is one of many aimed at improving the role of the company in society, such as its "Race Together" program, which is aimed at sparking conversation about race relations in the United States with the hopes of formulating positive action.
The initiative is said to target 60 million customers.
"We have problems in this country with regard to race and racial inequality," Schultz said in a video message to its employees this week, according to Forbes.
Starbucks was founded in 1971 in Seattle, Washington.
