Walmart (NYSE:WMT) announced that the retail giant is hiring high school students by offering them college benefits, which include the opportunity to get a degree without having to deal with debt beyond their graduation.
The Bentonville, Ar.-based retail giant — which is the largest private employer in the U.S. with a national workforce of 1.5 million — announced on Tuesday that it was planning on expanding the college education perks that it offers high school students. The goal is to encourage them to continue their education at the university level, while also helping them to relieve debt.
Walmart will now be offering high school students access to jobs within the company with flexible scheduling options. The retailer will also offer free ACT and SAT prep courses in addition to up to seven hours of free college credit through the retailer’s “Live Better U’s College Start” program.
The chain is offering a debt-free college degree using the “Live Better U” program once they complete high school in three fields from six nonprofit universities. Walmart said that less than 25,000 of its workers today are high school students, which amount to a “very small percentage” of its workforce.
This is a very small amount when compared to other major players in the industry, due in part because of how hard it can be to work around the class schedules of busy students, according to a statement from Julie Murphy, executive vice president of Walmart’s U.S. people division, during a call with members of the media.
WMT stock is up 0.2% today.