Giving Compass' Take:

• Walmart is now offering tuition assistance to their employees and will start to cover college expenses for employees who want to pursue an associates or bachelor's degree in business or supply chain management. 

• Will covering costs of college for employees help with retainment? Or will it give workers the skills to move on from Walmart? Will public opinion of Walmart change after this? 

• Read about the success of Amazon's Career Choice project, a tuition assistance program. 

On Wednesday, Walmart announced that it would offer to pay, at least in part, for its 1.4 million employees in the United States—part-time, full-time, and salaried—to go to college, with some restrictions.

Though it is not the retailer’s first foray into the world of subsidizing education for its employees, it makes it the latest big employer to publicly declare it wants to help its employees get a degree, following Starbucks, JetBlue, UPS, Cigna, Fiat-Chrysler, and others.

Here’s what Walmart’s plan looks like: Employees will be able to earn their associates or bachelor’s degrees in either business or supply-chain management, and Walmart will pay for any upfront costs after financial aid, including tuition, books, and fees, which they say will eliminate the need for a loan.

Recipients can select to attend either University of Florida, Brandman University in California, and Bellevue University in Nebraska.

For their part, employees will have to pay the equivalent of $1 per day to Walmart as a sort of co-pay and there does not appear to be any requirement for employees to stay with the company once they have completed their degree—a feature of several other employer-sponsored tuition-assistance programs.

The move to help its employees go to college looks good for a company that has been pilloried over the years for its low wages, lack of room for career growth, and stingy benefits.

As for Walmart’s aim, there’s evidence that helping employees go to college pays off. As the economy improves, companies have to work harder to attract and retain workers, and hiring new people is expensive, but these programs can help with retention.

Read the full article about Walmart paying for college by Adam Harris at The Atlantic