Walmart Makes Move to Appeal to High School Students

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By Douglas A. McIntyre Updated Published
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Walmart Makes Move to Appeal to High School Students

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Walmart Inc. (NYSE: WMT | WMT Price Prediction) has started several programs to draw high school students to its workforce and then help them get educations.

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At the cornerstone of these projects are new school programs:

Jobs with scheduling options for flexibility or core hours (work the same days and shifts for up to 13 weeks),

Free ACT and SAT prep,

Up to seven hours of free college credit through Live Better U’s College Start program, and

A debt-free college degree through Live Better U (upon high school completion) in the in-demand fields of technology, business or supply chain management at six nonprofit universities.

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As tens of thousands of dollars of debt weigh on many U.S. students, this part of the plan is particularly attractive. Walmart describes this as an “end to end” plan for people who want to further themselves and work at the world’s largest retailers.

Many of the education programs are aimed at students who want more tech experience:

Walmart is expanding its offering of debt-free degrees that associates can earn through Live Better U. The additional 14 technology degrees and certificates — like cyber security, computer science, computer and network security and computing technology — are in addition to the business and supply chain degrees currently offered for $1 a day.

The education for Walmart employees who want degrees are available at several universities. Southern New Hampshire University, Purdue University Global and Wilmington University are new to Live Better U and join University of Florida, Brandman University and Bellevue University.

The company describes program:

Live Better U supports associate education at every level. The program includes our $1 a day college program, cost-free high school education to associates and eligible family members, discounts on higher education programs like master’s degrees, foreign language learning and much more – all in partnership with Guild Education.

Walmart must still struggle with its reputation for paying low wages, in some cases ones that, according to many experts, keep its workers below the poverty line. These new programs may be a start.

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About the Author Douglas A. McIntyre →

Douglas A. McIntyre is the co-founder, chief executive officer and editor in chief of 24/7 Wall St. and 24/7 Tempo. He has held these jobs since 2006.

McIntyre has written thousands of articles for 24/7 Wall St. He is an expert on corporate finance, the automotive industry, media companies and international finance. He has edited articles on national demographics, sports, personal income and travel.

His work has been quoted or mentioned in The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, Los Angeles Times, The Washington Post, NBC News, Time, The New Yorker, HuffPost USA Today, Business Insider, Yahoo, AOL, MarketWatch, The Atlantic, Bloomberg, New York Post, Chicago Tribune, Forbes, The Guardian and many other major publications. McIntyre has been a guest on CNBC, the BBC and television and radio stations across the country.

A magna cum laude graduate of Harvard College, McIntyre also was president of The Harvard Advocate. Founded in 1866, the Advocate is the oldest college publication in the United States.

TheStreet.com, Comps.com and Edgar Online are some of the public companies for which McIntyre served on the board of directors. He was a Vicinity Corporation board member when the company was sold to Microsoft in 2002. He served on the audit committees of some of these companies.

McIntyre has been the CEO of FutureSource, a provider of trading terminals and news to commodities and futures traders. He was president of Switchboard, the online phone directory company. He served as chairman and CEO of On2 Technologies, the video compression company that provided video compression software for Adobe’s Flash. Google bought On2 in 2009.

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