New Partnership At Shepherd Covers Academic Costs For Amazon Employees

A new educational partnership at Shepherd University aims to help employees of a well-known corporation access academic opportunities in West Virginia’s Eastern Panhandle.

In 2012, multinational tech and ecommerce company Amazon launched its Career Choice program. The program helps cover higher education or professional development costs for some employees.

Shepherd University announced Thursday afternoon that it was selected by Amazon as a Career Choice education partner, adding it to the list of institutions that eligible employees can access with the company’s financial support.

The Career Choice program is “open to the vast majority of Amazon hourly full-time and part-time employees after 90 days of employment,” with “no limit to the number of years they can participate,” according to the company’s website.

The company can “pre-pay tuition and reimburse books and fees up to an annual amount” for several different courses of study, the website continues. This includes some bachelor and associate degree programs, GED programs, second-language English instruction and professional development courses.

More than 200,000 Amazon employees have participated in the program since its launch, Sam Fisher, a public relations representative for Amazon, wrote in an email to West Virginia Public Broadcasting.

“Our goal is to meet individual learners where they are on their educational journey through a variety of education and skills training opportunities,” he wrote.

In his email, Fisher did not directly address why Shepherd was selected for the program. But he wrote that more than 600 schools have been approved to participate across 14 countries through a “rigorous selection process.”

The company is “regularly looking to expand that list to provide more opportunities for our employees with trusted partners,” he added.

Amazon is not a major employer in the Mountain State. As of January 2024, the company directly employed 300 full and part-time employees in West Virginia, according to its Investing in the U.S. report. That is one of its lowest statewide employment rates in the country.

But in Virginia and Maryland, which both border Jefferson County, Amazon is a bigger player in the job market. The company currently employs 39,000 full and part-time staff members in Virginia, and 23,000 in Maryland.

In Virginia, Amazon operates a distribution and fulfillment center just south of the Berkeley County line, roughly 20 miles from Shepherd’s campus. When it opened in 2018, Amazon said the facility aimed to hire employees for 1,000 full-time positions.

Tammy Thieman, director of career development programs at Amazon, said in a Thursday press release from Shepherd that the new partnership is part of a company effort to bolster third-party educational resources for current employees.

These programs can help provide employees “the education and training they need to grow their careers, whether that’s with us or elsewhere,” she said.

Administrators at Shepherd University are excited for what the new program can bring.

“Amazon shares our commitment to student success, and we look forward to providing quality instructional opportunities to their employees through this innovative program,” President Mary Hendrix said in Thursday’s press release.

“Shepherd University is excited for the opportunity to partner with the Amazon Career Choice program,” said Hans Fogle, executive director of university communications.

“We will be working with Amazon to support the success of their employees through this significant educational benefit,” he said.

For more information on Shepherd University’s education partnership with the Amazon Career Choice program, visit the university’s website.