Oklahoma Amazon Employees Can Now Go To Five Colleges In The State For Free

Amazon employees in Oklahoma can now go to five colleges in the state for free.

The company, which has 12,000 employees in Oklahoma, announced its goal of investing $1.2 billion dollars to educate employees around the country. 21-year-old Doran Cunningham is one of about two dozen Amazon employees getting their education at Tulsa Community College paid by Amazon.

"Without this, I probably wouldn't be able to go to school right now,” said Cunningham. “I would probably have had to work harder at Amazon, longer hours, just to make sure I have money for tuition."

Amazon will now pre-pay all tuition and books for full-time hourly employees who have worked at least 90 days for the company.

"I talked to my academic advisor about the courses I need, how much it's going to cost,” explained Cunningham. “All I had to do was print out a form and give it to my school, and Amazon covered everything."

Employees can pick nearly any certification or degree, even ESL and GED classes at the University of Oklahoma, Oklahoma State University, Oklahoma City Community College, Tulsa Community College or Rogers State University.

 Daniel Martin with Amazon told News On 6 the program’s mission is to build employees' skills and strengthen communities.

"Programs like Career Choice can be truly life-changing for some people, and we're just really excited to see this program grow,” said Martin. “We're excited to see more Amazonians and Oklahomans get enrolled in the program and see the growth and the success over the coming years."

Pete Selden, vice president of workforce development at Tulsa Community College, said partnerships like the one with Amazon will strengthen the state’s workforce and likely keep workers in Oklahoma.

"When you can help train people in your own backyard, especially when it's your employer that's providing the tuition assistance for you to go to college, there seems to be some sense of loyalty there, right?" explained Selden.

Amazon has partnered with a total of more than 140 universities and colleges around the country. Employees who participate in the program do not have to stay with the company after the completion of their education.

To learn more about Career Choice, visit: https://www.aboutamazon.com/news/workplace/career-choice

To learn more about Amazon’s $1.2 billion investment to upskill 300,000 employees in the next four years, visit: http://aboutamazon.com/upskilling2025

Jobs are available across Oklahoma. Interested candidates can see all open positions at https://hiring.amazon.com/.