When Polyanna Unruh first joined Bank of America in 2019 as a relationship banker at a Nevada branch, one of the first things she did was get acquainted with the organization's
Bank of America offers $7,500 worth of tuition assistance per employee per year, which can be used towards professional certifications or degrees. For Unruh, who had moved to the U.S. from Brazil in 2017 with nothing more than a high school diploma on her educational resume, these benefits offered a roadmap to more than a job in finance, but a long-term career.
"I'm a coupon lady, always looking for deals," Unruh says. "Being younger and not having a college degree, the
As she settled into her role, Unruh noticed that a number of her colleagues had
Read more:
"I wanted to get more educated, I wanted to prepare for my career, and I didn't want to leave Bank of America," she says. "It seemed like the kind of place to stay."
Starting her studies in May 2020, Unruh completed an online Bachelor's degree in business management and administration in October 2021, followed immediately by an online MBA program, from which she graduated in July of 2022. She earned both degrees from Western Governors University, one of Bank of America's partner schools, all while maintaining a full-time schedule with her employer.
"I wouldn't have pursued either degree without the assistance from the bank, and I don't just mean financial assistance," says Unruh. "There's an academic support program that provides employees with very accessible academic coaches, and I also had very supportive managers who were essential to my success. They were always asking if I needed support, always making themselves available."
Unruh walked away from her studies with two degrees and zero debt, a prospect that's appealing to many of the bank's employees: In 2021, Bank of America provided $22 million in tuition assistance — up 40% from 2020 — to roughly 5,000 staffers. Eighty-three percent of those employees were pursuing degrees, with 17% working toward certifications.
Read more:
Unruh says that taking on these studies in addition to a full-time job was intimidating at first, and definitely came with time-management challenges. But the more success she achieved, she says, the more she was driven to push herself.
"Especially being an immigrant, we tend to have that Debbie-Downer sense of self-doubt, and thinking we can't achieve," she says. "But once I saw that it was doable — with a lot of effort and a lot of work, and with the financial burden off my shoulders — I wanted to explore more."
After completing her bachelor's, an academic coach gave her a sneak peek at an MBA syllabus, which, as a recent graduate, she felt prepared to tackle. Already, her hard work is paying off: After having been promoted to a testing specialist in 2020, Unruh's advanced education helped her take another step up the Bank of America ladder in May, when she transitioned to a quality assurance specialist in the Dallas area. She plans to keep moving forward in her career — and she still plans to do it at Bank of America.
"I'm watching friends my age deal with student loan debt, and I don't have any," she says. "The loyalty created by having an employer that actually supported me and stood by me? I want to stay there as long as I can. I'm hungry to keep learning, and there's no finish line."
