- Outlier.org Will Provide Amazon Employees Access to For-Credit Higher Education Pathways and Valuable Upskilling Through Foundational Coursework. Amazon’s Career Choice Program Provides Full Tuition to Learn New Skills for Career Success at Amazon or Elsewhere.
Today, Outlier.org announced it has been selected as one of five national education partners for Amazon’s Career Choice program. Through its Employee Pathways program, Outlier.org will provide Amazon’s 750,000 qualifying hourly employees in the U.S. the option to access a custom Amazon College Pathway Certificate and the full catalog of general education courses spanning mathematics and writing, as well as liberal arts and business electives. The Certificate and courses provide a meaningful bridge to a degree with highly transferable credit accepted at institutions across the country while enabling students to explore different majors and overarching career paths––all at zero cost to employees.
“It is fantastic that Amazon is leading the way in providing high quality education as a benefit to their employees at no cost,” said Aaron Rasmussen, founder and CEO of Outlier.org. “This previews a future when many forward-thinking businesses will empower their employees with for-credit education and foundational pathways for career advancement. Together, we can increase access to education and reduce student debt.”
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Through Outlier.org’s Employee Pathways program, partners like Amazon are able to expand access to high-quality higher education for their employees, make a bigger impact with existing education assistance program allowances, and offer ultimate flexibility and effectiveness in online education delivery. Outlier.org courses are cohort-based with rolling start dates every two weeks, include all course materials needed, maintain open admissions, and produce student outcomes that exceed on-campus national averages. These results point to online college education being just as effective as in-person learning, with the added benefits of flexible time, space, and peer collaboration.With this latest announcement, Outlier.org courses will enable Amazon employees to establish the academic foundation needed to pursue and succeed in higher education degree completion, risk-free.
Created with a mission to expand access to high-quality education and reduce student debt, Outlier.org is building on-ramps to higher education one thoughtfully designed cinematic course at a time. Founded by Aaron Rasmussen (co-founder of MasterClass), Outlier.org was named one of TIME Magazine’s Best Inventions of 2020. By combining cinematic video, thoughtful pedagogy, student support, and technology, Outlier.org builds the best online versions of general education college courses that earn transferable credit from the University of Pittsburgh.
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Amazon’s Career Choice program is an education benefit that empowers employees to learn new skills for career success at Amazon or elsewhere. The program meets individual learners where they are on their education journey through a variety of education and upskilling opportunities including full college tuition, industry certifications designed to lead to in-demand jobs, and foundational skills such as English language proficiency, high school diplomas, and GEDs. In the U.S., the company is investing $1.2 billion to upskill more than 300,000 employees by 2025 to help move them into higher-paying, in-demand jobs.
Amazon’s Career Choice program has a rigorous selection process for third-party partner educators, choosing partners that are focused on helping employees through their education programs, assisting them with job placements, and overall offering education that leads to career success.
“We’re looking forward to Outlier.org coming on board as an education partner for Career Choice, adding to the hundreds of best-in-class offerings available to our employees,” said Tammy Thieman, Global Program Lead of Amazon’s Career Choice program. “We’re committed to empowering our employees by providing them access to the education and training they need to grow their careers, whether that’s with us or elsewhere. We have intentionally cultivated a partner network of third-party educators and employers committed to providing excellent education, job placement resources, and continuous improvements to the experience. Today, over 50,000 Amazon employees around the world have already participated in Career Choice and we’ve seen first-hand how it can transform their lives.”
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