Starbucks Corp. (NASDAQ: SBUX) has started to offer a benefit to its employees that is unmatched by any large company. It will allow some of its workers to attended Arizona State University with tuition paid for two years. It will be interesting to see whether other large fast-food chains or retailers match it.

The announcement:

Starbucks and Arizona State University (ASU) will announced the Starbucks College Achievement Plan, a powerful, first-of-its-kind program designed to unleash lifetime opportunity for thousands of eligible part-time and full-time U.S. partners (employees).

Starbucks chairman, president and ceo Howard Schultz will host the first Partner Family Forum in the U.S. in New York’s Times Center and will join ASU president Dr. Michael M. Crow and U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan to officially launch the Starbucks College Achievement Plan. This significant investment will create an opportunity for eligible partners to finish a bachelor’s degree with full tuition reimbursement for juniors and seniors, through a unique collaboration with ASU’s research-driven, top-ranked degree program, delivered online.

Through this innovative collaboration, partners based in the U.S. working an average of 20 hours per week at any company-operated store (including Teavana, La Boulange, Evolution Fresh and Seattle’s Best Coffee stores) may choose from more than 40 undergraduate degree programs taught by ASU’s award-winning faculty such as electrical engineering, education, business and retail management. Partners admitted to ASU as a junior or senior will earn full tuition reimbursement for each semester of full-time coursework they complete toward a bachelor’s degree. Freshmen and sophomores will be eligible for a partial tuition scholarship and need-based financial aid for two years of full-time study.  Partners will have no commitment to remain at the company past graduation.

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