Furthering education: Spectrum & other companies help employees

AUSTIN, Texas - Employers across the country are helping their employees advance their careers by helping pay for college tuition.

What they're saying:

"I'm currently working on a bachelor's in business administration to continue to grow in my career here at Spectrum," says Spectrum field operator Robert Ackerman.

Through Spectrum's Education Benefit program, thousands of their employees are now enrolled in these certification classes, or bachelor's and Master’s programs. The company pays costs associated with tuition, books and other fees.

"The program allows our full-time employees to pick from almost 300 different concentrations of programs. So it could be a certification, associate's degree, bachelor's degree and even a master's degree," says Regional Communications Director Tania Ortega.

Dig deeper:

Many already know college is expensive.

According to the Education Data Initiative, the average cost of college in Texas for a single semester in 2024, excluding room and board, is around $7,000 for a full-time undergraduate student.

Spectrum's education assistance program is helping pay for up to $10,000 a year for full-time employees.

"This affords me the opportunities to get some of the degrees while being able to work full-time and take care of a family, and my wife is also getting a bachelor's in teaching so we're getting to kind of take this journey together you know trying to raise a household work full-time and go to school," says Ackerman.

Ackerman has been with the company for 20 years now, and thanks to this assistance, he is advancing his career and hopefully inspiring his adult children.

"We have a big blended family and a lot of our children are between 20 and 30 and they're joined the workforce and we're trying to inspire them and show them that no matter what age it is, you're never too old to go back to school and further your education in an effort to help develop the best career you can," says Ackerman.

Being a full-time employee and going to school can be tricky to balance while also looking out for your family. The program connects employees with the resources they need to achieve their degree or certification.

"We work with Guild. So, we actually pay for everything, we pay for the books, we pay for the tuition, we paid for the fees. So all employees have to do is, you know, obviously work full-time and then just make time in their day-to-day life to go to school part-time online," says Ortega.

What you can do:

You can learn more about the program here and you can learn about open positions at Spectrum here.