Chrysler To Offer Free College Tuition to All Dealership Employees

Making a college education affordable seems to be a discussion taking place all over these days. Here's one way to solve that problem, I suppose: have somebody else pay for it.

According to Fortune, the United States division of Fiat Chrysler Automobiles has unveiled a plan to offer free college tuition to the 118,000 employees at its Chrysler, Jeep, Dodge, Ram, and Fiat dealerships across the country:

Part-time and full-time employees who have worked at a dealership for 30 days are eligible to enroll in an associate, bachelor’s, or master’s degree program in 40 degree categories at Strayer University, a 123-year-old for-profit college based in Virginia. They can take classes online or at one of Strayer’s 77 campuses. The program will be introduced to 356 dealerships in Florida, Georgia, South Carolina, North Carolina, Alabama, and Tennessee on Monday. The company expects to roll out the program to its 2,400 dealerships nationwide later this year.

Officials with the company say it's partially a selfish decision. They want the ability to attract and retain the best talent for their showrooms.

Fortune reports that the plan is similar to the one announced by Starbucks last month. The coffee chain offers full- and part-time employees full tuition coverage through Arizona State University’s online degree program.

No word on what, if any, benefit might be extended to Chrysler workers on the assembly line in Belvidere.