Amazon partners with FGCU to pay for SWFL employees’ tuition

Retail giant Amazon is partnering with Florida Gulf Coast University for the Amazon Career Choice program, giving around 1,000 employees the chance to go to school for free in their own community.

“I think that’s going to be the key, the support we will give them so that they will do well in their classes and be a phenomenal employee here at amazon,” said Dr. Lisa Johnson, FGCU associate vice president of enrollment management.

“It is a really great opportunity that is going to open the door, not just to me, but to plenty of people who are employees here,” said Robert Sandoval, a learning trainer at Amazon.

It’s an opportunity that Sandoval figured he’d never have, as no one in his family ever went to college.

“My situation was like, I never had a scholarship,” Sandoval said. “So it was like, ‘I’m not sure if I’m gonna be able to afford it. I’m not sure if my parents are gonna be able to afford it.'”

But now he can. Amazon will cover the cost of tuition for its employees who take part in its Career Choice program. Sandoval can’t wait to get started.

“Exciting… nervous, like, a little bit hard, but I know I can do it,” Sandoval said.

“This program gives folks hope, to be able to have a better career, to be able to advance, to be able to earn more money for their families, to be able to be an inspiration to the children,” Johnson said. “This program is so so important to Southwest Florida.”

This is the first time Amazon is partnered with a school in Southwest Florida. Amazon employees are eligible for the Career Choice program after 90 days on the job, and they must work while going to FGCU. Once they complete the program, each worker can either pursue a career within Amazon or go somewhere else with no obligation to pay back the tuition money used to go to school.