Published: Saturday, September 26, 2009
Boeing slashes tuition perk
The popular program will be limited to degrees and classes relevant to the aerospace company's goals, but SPEEA plans to fight it.
The Boeing Co. will no longer pay for employees’ culinary degrees and basket-weaving classes — maybe not even some of their law degrees.
The aerospace giant is scaling back its popular employee tuition program, which 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, be they MBA programs or 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.”
That announcement met with resistance Friday, with leaders of the Society for Professional Engineering Employees in Aerospace saying they’ll fight the change.
Unions representing Boeing employees were in negotiations with the company.
“Their announcement today doesn’t impact the hourly employees,” said Connie Kelliher, a spokeswoman for the machinists’ union.
Those workers have union-negotiated agreements for training benefits, she said.
The 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 could feel the effect of the cuts if some Boeing employees opt out of paying for classes from their own pockets. Under the existing program, the company pays tuition for about 6,000 employees in the Seattle area and about 21,000 overall.
Until the dust surrounding union negotiations clears up, it isn’t clear if Snohomish County community colleges will feel a pinch.
“It’s too soon to tell what the impact of Boeing’s decision will be on Everett Community College and its students who are Boeing employees,” said Katherine Schiffer, a spokeswoman for EvCC.
Last year, there were 338 Boeing employees enrolled in for-credit classes at the college. There were 809 Boeing employees taking classes at EvCC’s Corporate and Continuing Education Center.
Boeing employees make up a sizable portion of programs at some schools. About 40 of 200 students in Seattle University’s part-time evening law school program work for Boeing.
But Boeing officials said there won’t be any limit to how many employees can qualify for free tuition — just what they can study.
“It’s still going to be industry-leading, and it’s still available to all employees,” Forte said.
The modified tuition program imposes 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 necessary of business-sense to the classroom.
Now, three years of experience is 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.”
This report contains information from the Associated Press. Read Amy Rolph’s small-business blog at www.heraldnet.comTheStorefront. Contact her at 425-339-3029 or arolph@heraldnet.com.
The aerospace giant is scaling back its popular employee tuition program, which 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, be they MBA programs or 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.”
That announcement met with resistance Friday, with leaders of the Society for Professional Engineering Employees in Aerospace saying they’ll fight the change.
Unions representing Boeing employees were in negotiations with the company.
“Their announcement today doesn’t impact the hourly employees,” said Connie Kelliher, a spokeswoman for the machinists’ union.
Those workers have union-negotiated agreements for training benefits, she said.
The 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 could feel the effect of the cuts if some Boeing employees opt out of paying for classes from their own pockets. Under the existing program, the company pays tuition for about 6,000 employees in the Seattle area and about 21,000 overall.
Until the dust surrounding union negotiations clears up, it isn’t clear if Snohomish County community colleges will feel a pinch.
“It’s too soon to tell what the impact of Boeing’s decision will be on Everett Community College and its students who are Boeing employees,” said Katherine Schiffer, a spokeswoman for EvCC.
Last year, there were 338 Boeing employees enrolled in for-credit classes at the college. There were 809 Boeing employees taking classes at EvCC’s Corporate and Continuing Education Center.
Boeing employees make up a sizable portion of programs at some schools. About 40 of 200 students in Seattle University’s part-time evening law school program work for Boeing.
But Boeing officials said there won’t be any limit to how many employees can qualify for free tuition — just what they can study.
“It’s still going to be industry-leading, and it’s still available to all employees,” Forte said.
The modified tuition program imposes 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 necessary of business-sense to the classroom.
Now, three years of experience is 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.”
This report contains information from the Associated Press. Read Amy Rolph’s small-business blog at www.heraldnet.comTheStorefront. Contact her at 425-339-3029 or arolph@heraldnet.com.
Comments
(
