Published: Friday, September 25, 2009
Boeing to scale back employee tuition program
Boeing will no longer pay for employees' culinary degrees, basket-weaving classes -- maybe not even some of their law degrees.
The aerospace giant is scaling back its popular employee tuition program, which, until now, took an anything-goes approach to picking up the bill for education. For years, the company paid for any college classes employees wanted to take, from MBA programs to photography classes.
That's changing in October, when Boeing starts limiting tuition coverage to degrees and classes that are relevant to the company's strategic goals.
"All we've said is it's got to really benefit the business," Boeing spokeswoman Karen Forte said. "It has to have a really strategic focus. It needs to be business relevant."
The current tuition program costs the company about $70 million annually, Forte said. That's a little less than the starting list price of their larger 737 jetliner.
Forte declined to reveal how much the modified tuition program will likely cost, saying numbers are still preliminary.
Regional schools will likely feel the impact of the cuts, as some Boeing employees opt out of paying for unapproved classes from their own pockets. The company currently pays tuition for about 6,000 employees in the Seattle area and about 21,000 overall.
The modified tuition program isn't only limited by what types of classes and programs it covers. There are now yearly tuition caps: $15,000 for graduate students, $7,500 for undergraduate students and $5,000 for students studying in certificate programs or taking individual classes.
And for graduate students, tuition payment comes with a "give-back" requirement.
"Basically, we're saying, 'hey, you need to at least stay two years," Forte said. "And that was not in place before. An employee could essentially graduate with an MBA and leave the next day -- not that they did."
Boeing officials heard from schools that employees who joined Boeing right out of undergraduate programs and enrolled as MBA students weren't bringing the right kind of business-sense to the classroom.
Now, three-years of experience are required before employees can get free tuition for an advanced business degree, Forte said.
"New hires could come right into Boeing and immediately sign up for the program without any experience," she said. "We're now saying, let's put some enrollment prerequisites in."
A spokeswoman for the machinists' union said the new plan won't impact separate union-negotiated agreements for training benefits.
The aerospace giant is scaling back its popular employee tuition program, which, until now, took an anything-goes approach to picking up the bill for education. For years, the company paid for any college classes employees wanted to take, from MBA programs to photography classes.
That's changing in October, when Boeing starts limiting tuition coverage to degrees and classes that are relevant to the company's strategic goals.
"All we've said is it's got to really benefit the business," Boeing spokeswoman Karen Forte said. "It has to have a really strategic focus. It needs to be business relevant."
The current tuition program costs the company about $70 million annually, Forte said. That's a little less than the starting list price of their larger 737 jetliner.
Forte declined to reveal how much the modified tuition program will likely cost, saying numbers are still preliminary.
Regional schools will likely feel the impact of the cuts, as some Boeing employees opt out of paying for unapproved classes from their own pockets. The company currently pays tuition for about 6,000 employees in the Seattle area and about 21,000 overall.
The modified tuition program isn't only limited by what types of classes and programs it covers. There are now yearly tuition caps: $15,000 for graduate students, $7,500 for undergraduate students and $5,000 for students studying in certificate programs or taking individual classes.
And for graduate students, tuition payment comes with a "give-back" requirement.
"Basically, we're saying, 'hey, you need to at least stay two years," Forte said. "And that was not in place before. An employee could essentially graduate with an MBA and leave the next day -- not that they did."
Boeing officials heard from schools that employees who joined Boeing right out of undergraduate programs and enrolled as MBA students weren't bringing the right kind of business-sense to the classroom.
Now, three-years of experience are required before employees can get free tuition for an advanced business degree, Forte said.
"New hires could come right into Boeing and immediately sign up for the program without any experience," she said. "We're now saying, let's put some enrollment prerequisites in."
A spokeswoman for the machinists' union said the new plan won't impact separate union-negotiated agreements for training benefits.
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