Progress of ASU, Starbucks partnership profiled

Arizona State University and Starbucks announced April 6 that the Starbucks College Achievement Plan, first introduced in June 2014, will now offer 100 percent tuition coverage for every eligible U.S. Starbucks partner (employee), and the world is taking notice.

The May 2015 issue of The Atlantic features an article titled “The Upwardly Mobile Barista” in which it posits the question: “Is this [ASU-Starbucks partnership] a model for helping more Americans reach the middle class?”

The article tells the story of several Starbucks employees who are benefiting from the new educational model. One of them, Mary Hamm, is a woman with 12 years of experience managing Starbucks stores but never went to college. After being passed over for corporate jobs in favor of candidates with more formal education, Hamm decided to take advantage of what Starbucks and ASU were offering to finally get a college education.

“The College Achievement Plan has been a powerful demonstration of what is possible when an enlightened and innovative corporation joins forces with a forward-thinking research university,” said ASU President Michael M. Crow.

Secretary of Education Arne Duncan has praised ASU and other colleges with similar educational models. “These kinds of best practices, these kinds of cultures, need to be the norm,” he said. “It doesn’t take a billion dollars, but it does take an entrepreneurial spirit and a real commitment.”

Hamm recently made the dean’s list and will travel to Tempe, Arizona next year to walk in the graduation ceremony.