Education | Starbucks to pay UK staff university fees

Starbucks has announced that it will start paying tuition fees for UK employees seeking a degree as the firm expands its education initiative.

The coffee chain will pay for 100% of the tuition fees for eligible UK employees seeking a Bachelor of Science Degree or Bachelor of Arts Degree through online university programmes by Arizona State University (ASU). Employees can choose from 40+ different programmes which will be entirely funded by Starbucks and ASU.

This move is an expansion of the company’s successful educative initiative Starbucks Degree Achievement Plan (SDAP) which initially launched in 2014.

Russell Butcher, Senior Manager in Education and Skills at Starbucks told HR Grapevine: "At Starbucks, we work closely with partners to identify what benefits matter most to them and many have expressed how difficult the financial strains can be to obtain a University degree. The partnership between Starbucks and Arizona State University aims to remove the barriers to higher education and create opportunities for partners to pursue individual goals of achieving a university degree."