Papa John’s delivers college benefits to its corporate workers

Papa John’s is adding another slice to its benefits pie: free college.

The company is offering a tuition reimbursement education program, Dough & Degrees, in partnership with Purdue University Global, to its roughly 20,000 corporate employees. The program covers 100% of tuition costs for undergraduate and graduate online degree programs.

Employees can enroll in any of Purdue Global’s online associate, bachelor’s and master’s degree programs, including business, information technology, cybersecurity, accounting and finance.

“We want to be an employer of choice in the marketplace,” says Papa John’s Chief People Officer Marvin Boakye. “This new tuition benefit program not only provides our team members with a tremendous career growth opportunity, but it gives us a competitive advantage in the marketplace that will make us better as an organization.”

Luke Sharrett/Bloomberg

In addition, the alliance with Purdue Global will also extend some educational benefits to Papa John’s 70,000 franchise team members. The partnership offers significant tuition and fee reductions for both undergraduate and graduate degree programs, as well as includes waived application fees and covers the cost of course materials, among other benefits.

“Our new relationship with Papa John’s is an example of how we can help organizations meet the increasing demand for educated and trained workers, while creating a personalized, high-quality education for students that fits their busy schedules,” adds Betty Vandenbosch, chancellor of Purdue University Global.

Papa John’s joins a number of other companies that in the past year have included tuition benefits to better educate and retain talent.

From offering free tuition to opportunities for training in skills such as carpentry, plumbing or appliance repair, Disney, Lowes and Chipotle are among a number of employers that introduced continuing education perks for workers in the past year.

Discover said last summer it will offer free college tuition as a benefit for its 16,500 employees. The credit card giant’s benefit allows the vast majority of its employees — full-time employees and part-time workers who work at least 30 hours a week are eligible — a full-ride online bachelor’s degree from three different universities: the University of Florida, Wilmington University and Brandman University.