The partnership will give Sweetwater employees the opportunity to pursue their college education at Ivy Tech Community College with up to 90% tuition reimbursement.
Ivy Tech Community College and Sweetwater, an online music and audio equipment retailer, have partnered up to give Sweetwater employees the ability to attend college at a significant discount. The partnership is via Ivy Tech Community College’s Achieve Your Degree program, which gives local employers the ability to send their employees to the college at little or no cost, providing great benefits to their employees.
According to an article on Ivy Tech Community College’s website, Kenan Habibic, who serves as the college’s Director of Community Engagement, explained the Achieve Your Degree program. Habibic is quoted as saying, “The Achieve Your Degree program is a wonderful partnership between Ivy Tech and employers. It will allow Sweetwater employees to attend Ivy Tech with little or no money out of their pocket. We understand the barriers employees face when looking to further their education. Paying for your tuition up front and waiting for your employer to reimburse you can be a hurdle, especially in today’s economy. Companies who are set up as an AYD partner allows us to defer the student's payment to the end of the semester and bill their employers directly.”
The Achieve Your Dream program gives the company, in this case Sweetwater, the ability to choose which degrees or certificates their employees are eligible to take at Ivy Tech Community College in order to help them excel and advance in the company’s specializations. Sweetwater has chosen to give its employees the opportunity to take supply chain management, digital marketing, accounting, and data analytics courses, as well as certificates or associate degrees in business administration.
To participate in the Achieve Your Dream program, Sweetwater employees must be regular full or part time employees, and their managers will help determine their eligibility for the program. In addition to the ability to have up to 90% of their tuition reimbursed by their employer, participants will also have access to online courses and flexible scheduling to ensure they can work their college classes around their work schedule.
Dr. Kristal Walker, the Vice President of Employee Wellbeing at Sweetwater, said of the partnership, “Our employees are the heart of Sweetwater’s success, and we’re committed to providing them with opportunities to expand their skills and advance their careers. This is a great way to support our employees’ professional health. Partnering with Ivy Tech helps us remove obstacles to continuing education and make professional development more accessible. We couldn’t be more excited to work alongside an institution that has been a pillar of workforce development in the Greater Allen County community.”
For more information about Ivy Tech Community College, visit the school’s website.