Company Scholarship Programs: Right for You?
Should you offer scholarships as an employee benefit? These can take many forms. Academic grants, often merit-based, might cover tuition, books and fees, allowing recipients to complete their degrees without financial distractions. Diversity scholarships focus on enhancing inclusivity for nontraditional students within the firm or community. Grants for older students provide resources for those with added financial obligations such as supporting their children.
Does your company offer such a program, or could it? Consider some far-reaching benefits and what steps to take to initiate a sponsorship.
Giving forward, giving back
In a time when companies compete for good publicity, scholarships are a way to stand out from the crowd. With student debt at record highs, scholarships can boost your corporate brand image, extending from the student community out to their wider friends and families. Marketers know that one of the hardest demographics to reach is the one comprising people ages 18-24. Scholarships can provide for four years of college for deserving students and can give your company a lot of good attention.
You can show current employees you are committed to their advancement by giving them a way to learn up-to-date skills. This provides evidence that you want them to reach their full potential. At the same time, it is a conduit to attract talent, as you build your reputation among potential candidates.
Sponsors are no shrinking violets. It is no surprise that most major companies offer scholarships under their own brand names. The fundamental reason being public recognition — that is why they put their names on them.
Aside from marketing, other benefits come with the turf. Sponsors can elevate their corporate social responsibility image as an element of social consciousness. On an immediate level, building scholarship links can raise search engine optimization by increasing the links back to a firm’s website from respected universities that may list external scholarships on their own prestigious sites. And there are additional sources of useful market research, e.g., many applications include a research survey that can provide key information.
Scholarship recipients win, too, not just by allayed concerns over repaying loans after graduation, but equally important, achieving a sought-after scholarship can enhance their confidence and self-esteem throughout their careers as well.
Tuition reimbursement
It is worth distinguishing between scholarships and tuition reimbursement. While scholarships may cover the cost of an entire degree, reimbursement only provides for a percentage.
In theory, scholarships are set up to grant funds on a case-by-case basis without conditions of repayment. (They may, however, entail conditions for disbursement, such as academic achievement or the duration of an employee’s tenure at their sponsor’s firm.) Tuition reimbursement, by contrast, normally requires certain criteria be met. An employee might foot their own educational expenses but be eligible for repayment as long as they keep up with coursework and fulfill their work commitments at the office.
Companies also value reimbursement for helping keep workers’ skills fresh, or even prepare them to move toward management jobs. Corporate sponsors such as Fiat Chrysler and JetBlue have had noteworthy success. Starbucks offers a plan that underwrites tuition for a four-year degree at Arizona State University Online.
Creating a corporate scholarship
Here are some questions to consider before starting a scholarship at your own company:
- What will be your values and objectives? Are you focused on academic merit, financial need, diverse representation or development in a specialized field?
- What will be the eligibility criteria?
- How much money is being considered, and how often should it be distributed?
- Will it be funded by money held in escrow or withdrawn from an existing budget?
- Will you need a committee to oversee the application review process, select recipients and manage the program, including administrative and logistical support, record-keeping, disbursements, marketing and communications?
- Should you leverage existing corporate channels and explore partnerships with other educational and community organizations?
If it all sounds daunting, consider outsourcing the project through a community or stand-alone foundation, or tapping a nonprofit administrator.
Pam Morton
Benefits by Design Insurance Services
415-524-8959 Larkspur, CA office
760-696-3573 Carlsbad, CA office
PamM@benefitsbydesignca.com
www.benefitsbydesignca.com
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