How Starbucks and ASU are breaking the cost barrier to higher education
In an era where the cost of higher education continues to rise, the Starbucks College Achievement Plan (SCAP) stands out as a beacon of opportunity.
When the Starbucks College Achievement Plan (SCAP) was announced in 2014, Nate Fiorini saw his future shift in an instant.
At the time, he was working as a shift supervisor in Gilbert, Arizona and had recently completed his associate degree at a local community college. Convinced he was done with school due to the cost, Fiorini never imagined he’d return to the classroom.
“I knew that I wanted a degree, and I just couldn’t afford one from a four-year institution,” said Fiorini, now a senior project manager on the operations team at the Starbucks Support Center in Seattle. “When SCAP was announced, it was one of those moments where I knew I needed to take advantage of this opportunity – to say I can have a career when I’m out of school with no debt.”
When SCAP was announced, it was one of those moments where I knew I needed to take advantage of this opportunity – to say I can have a career when I’m out of school with no debt.”
Nate Fiorini
According to the U.S. Department of Education, more than 40 million Americans have taken out federal student loans, with the average student owing more than $38,000. Meanwhile, the cost of higher education continues to rise as colleges seek financial stability amid declining enrollment, and less public funding.
SCAP stands out in this landscape. The program offers 100% upfront tuition coverage for eligible full- or part-time Starbucks partners (employees) pursuing their first bachelor’s degree online through Arizona State University (ASU). It’s a benefit that paves a future for partners and serves as a beacon of opportunity wherever they choose to grow their careers.
Breaking the cost barrier
In 2014, Starbucks ceo Howard Schultz and ASU President Dr. Michael Crow came together to create a groundbreaking new partnership that would shape the educational journeys of thousands of partners. They were both involved in a national commission together, focused on the future of work and education. The vision: that higher education should be accessible to all.
“Howard came back to the Starbucks Support Center in Seattle and basically said, ‘I want to find a way to work with ASU and Michael Crow to see if we can’t provide a fundamental opportunity for Starbucks partners that will be life-changing,’” shared Ron Crawford, senior vice president of Total Rewards at Starbucks.
“Howard felt like so many partners at Starbucks didn’t finish college or weren’t able to finish,” recalled Dr. Crow. “We asked ourselves, ‘Can we create a model using advanced learning technologies that allows partners to return to school and complete their degrees—without the burden of cost?’”
To Dr. Crow, this was very doable and something the university has long been working to provide. ASU, under Crow’s leadership, has been a pioneer in accessible higher education. Since launching online degree programs in 2006, the university had grown to become one of the most robust online institutions in the country. Today, more than 183,000 learners are engaged at ASU either online or on its campuses.
“We decided that we can build a world class research university, that was also accessible,” Dr. Crow said. “When we first started that process, most people said it couldn’t be done, but we figured out how to do it, because we changed our culture, our design, and how we measure our success.”
Their charter boldly states: “ASU is a comprehensive public research university measured not by who it excludes, but by whom it includes and how they succeed.” The partnership was a natural fit: a university committed to inclusion teaming up with a company focused on creating opportunities for its people and communities. Starbucks became one of the first to partner with a four-year public university to provide a fully funded education—an initiative that required foresight, innovation, and a shared belief in equity.
Over the years, the program has evolved based on partner feedback. Starbucks and ASU utilized enrollment coaches specific to the Starbucks College Achievement Plan to guide partners through the decision making about their degree, application and admissions process. They also launched the Pathway to Admission program, allowing partners to take up to 10 college-level courses through ASU before they can officially enroll, for students who don’t meet the initial requirements for admission. And the company shifted from a reimbursement model to upfront tuition coverage, eliminating the need for partners to pay out of pocket.
“Occasionally you would find partners who applied to ASU and have something in their academic record – like a low grade – where they wouldn’t meet the requirements for admission,” Crawford said. “And there was even some skepticism about online education among the group and how that could actually work.”
“The power of humanity that you see in one of those graduation events is just beyond words,” Crawford said. “You see thousands and thousands of people whose lives are fundamentally different. It changes everything. It changes for the partner, for their family, and for their children. The impact of this on our partners is just immeasurable. It’s huge.”
The limits of SCAP know no bounds
After earning his degree from ASU in organizational leadership in 2019, Fiorini moved to Seattle to take on a new role at the Starbucks Support Center, where he now helps lead Starbucks Standards and operations excellence for store partners.
Reflecting on his journey, Fiorini feels grateful that he’s held nearly every role in retail, from barista to store manager. He sees SCAP as a foundational piece of his career development and the opportunities he’s been given.
“Organizational leadership made me a student of life. I’m able to take that learning and represent it in the work I do now,” he said. “I’m proud I took that first step.”
Enrollment continues to grow each year, with more than 1,100 partners having graduated this spring alone. Today, 13% of Starbucks retail partners are actively participating in SCAP—a significantly higher rate than comparable offerings at other major retailers—and participation is up more than 60% in the past five years alone.
As the landscape of higher education continues to shift, Starbucks remains firmly ahead of the curve. It’s proving that when a company invests in its people, the return is transformational. With SCAP, Starbucks isn’t just offering a benefit, it’s building a future.
“The program has been unbelievably inspirational, to work with a company like Starbucks that cares about its people the way that they do,” said Dr. Crow. “To spend millions and millions of dollars on something like this all because it’s the right thing to do, and to help people keep their lives moving forward – it’s a powerful thing.”
